The Grim Life of Kazuka Ujimoto
by Depressed Paperbag
Summary: Those who are far away from society would say that life is a lie. But for Kazuka Ujimoto, life is war. Kazuka Ujimoto comes from a life of struggle and a hard past. He deals with being ostracized by the students of Sobu High School and strives to support his younger sister. But, a certain club and person can help him find a way to overcome his problems and past. Maybe. Maybe not..?
1. Society (Introduction Arc START)

_**The Grim Life of Kazuka Ujimoto**_

_**By Depressed Paperbag**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own OreGairu. The owner is Watari Wataru, the owner of the Manga.**

**A/N: Hello, again. Another story made by me. I have been wanting to make a story on OreGairu for a while now and I'm about ready to make it. I know that there will be mistakes in this story, so please, comment them to notify me. I hope that the title is fine and that I get some good feedback from this. Just reading this makes me glad enough.**

**This will switch between 2nd and 3rd person perspectives, but rarely. Be noted that there might be some OOC in some of the chapters. Still working on that.**

**Thank you for reading this! Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter One: Society**

Humans are unpredictable. They can be your closest friend, then they can just leave you. Without a sound. It still amuses me how that explains how my life is like. It's almost angering to me. Life can be like limbo. Limbo has been defined as a state where you can't tell the difference between real and fake. Life is like that. I can relate this to humans as well, but it would be de-humanizing to say something like that.

Have you ever heard of the line, "an enemy of my enemy is my friend"? It's an ancient proverb that means that solely because two parties have a common enemy, they're friends. Which is what I see in my time, mainly in school.

Isn't that odd? Even if two lower-graded groups your age hate each other, they'll still try to 'unite' to take you down with them. The main reason why I hate the people of today. If you're a better person, they try to make you into a person that they can pick on. It's as if they have nothing better to do than ruin people. Why do you think there's so many trashy brats at school? Because there's always someone there to unite two groups and make them even stink more than they already do.

When you've got nothing left, who do you turn to? Your family? That is if they love you and would never leave you, but relying too much makes your frail and you'll never be able to solve your problems on your own, never finding the answer you need. Should you rely on those you were born with, such as your siblings? Or would you look towards the person you're in love with?

Everyone who's decently smart knows that high school love just lasts at least two or so months. It's stupid to be in a relationship that may not even last the day of tomorrow. Or forever.

Why rely on someone who won't be with you forever?

The only one you can rely on is yourself. You are you, and only regrets and pain can change a man. It's not wrong to love yourself. You care about your own well-being, nothing wrong about that. If you're normal.

To care about yourself rather than others is very selfish and pathetic. And to only help yourself rather than give out your skills to other people to help them in their time of need only makes you lower than the lowest of society's trash.

Though, many others see caring as kindness. They take your kindness for granted and drain you of every amount of "worth" you have in you until you're of no more use. Kind of like how bullies can see your weak personality and beat on you until they get bored of you, making you lose your pride as a human being. That's why sometimes, it's good not to be kind. It can be seen as a blessing for others who are in need of help, but it can be seen as a sign of possible prey to those who are low enough to bring down those who have already been brought down enough by their pasts.

Are you human if you care about others? Is it bad for you to be kind? Are you alright with relying on others to help you when you're down on your knees? Do you not care if you are fine, while others suffer? No **one **can ever answer these. Why? Because "society" says so. Deep down, it's what your heart tells you what's the right thing to do and tells what isn't. You can't always be courageous, you can't rely on yourself sometimes nor trust yourself, and you surely can't outrun the problems of your own personal life.

But for me, I think it's worth a try to give yourself a run from your own life. If it's that ruined.

My name is Ujimoto Kazuka and life is war, just as society is a lie.

* * *

At Sobu High School, Kazuka was a student of class 2-H, an above-decent class but even he didn't know he got into a class like it. As he stood there, sitting in at his desk, he was bored out of his mind as his brown eyes stared at the chalkboard. His teacher, Ms. Fujiwara saw that he was slacking off as usual and stopped writing for a moment.

"Ujimoto, are you listening?" She asked, annoyed.

"I thought all I had to do was look at the chalkboard.." He said, in a slurred tone. Some of the students laughed, but he knew they were laughing at him, not with him.

"I need you to listen well, you're supposed to know this for the exams next week!" She said, tapping the board with her finger.

"I don't need to listen well, it's already fine enough if I just look at it, right?"

"**Ujimoto, if you don't listen, don't expect to be graduating this year.**" She growled.

Kazuka could hear her voice in his head and it made him sweat. He couldn't understand how women could be so scary. It was unexpectingly ominous and it made him want to curl into a ball. He didn't want to be sent to the principal or get punished in any way. He sighed, nodding. Her face quickly changed back from being dark to normal. It was so quick, Kazuka was a little dumbfounded as she went back to writing. As he began to listen to Ms. Fujiwara, people began to whisper about him.

_"What is up with that idiot?"_

_"Why is that dumbass in this class?"_

_"Is he special or something?"_

Kazuka heard them, of course. But he took no attention to them even if they were all laughing silently. He rolled his eyes in disgust. He decided that it was stupid to let people like his classmates to hinder him, so he never made any friends during High school, even during the start of High school, he didn't try to make any because of the many things that happened during middle school. Despite that his class was known for being quite good, all of the students were cocky-snot nosed brats and they all thought one way: They were all better than everyone else. Kazuka only hated class because of idiots like that. Even though it wasn't highly known, he was shunned by people who knew him because he was always by himself and acted very negatively whenever people would try to talk to him with a smile.

He just hated people who was trying to be his friend out of the blue, even though he could see that they were faking it so clearly. But, he hated them even more whenever they approached him with a smile. These people weren't even going to be real with him, how could he respect people like that? He saw no reason to talk to these people if they didn't try to be serious with him. He didn't even think **why **they hated him in the first place.

After school was over, everyone got up and took their stuff, grouping up as they talked and laughed. To Kazuka, he wanted to puke just by looking at them. It was such a sight that he never was supposed to fit with. He felt completely out of place in the place he was in. He sighed, shaking his head as he stood up and put his backpack on his back. He was the last one to go out of the class, showing that no one was waiting for him. He sighed and was about to walk out until his teacher, Ms. Fujiwara blocked his path.

"Fujiwara-sensei, if this is about when I wasn't listening, I was just in a crabby mood. Would you just drop it?" He asked, a little annoyed. Fujiwara Onami was his teacher ever since he came to Sobu High School and they both respected each other in a way.

"No, it's nothing about that. I see that something is concerning you."

"Since when do you try to get into people's personal lives? That's not like you, sensei." Kazuka said.

"Still negative even after school?"

"You should already know that I always am."

"Kazuka, do you even have friends?" His teacher questioned. Kazuka sighed, he knew this was going to be long. He held his head down and eyes closed until he was able to gather enough patience to talk to his mentor again.

"I don't see why. I'm more concentrated on my future rather than upgrading my social status. It's not worth my time to make friends. Why use my time like that when I can just study and continue to prepare for my future?"

"Hmph, you've always thought like that, haven't you? Even if you've got a cute face, you're still a emotionless brat on the inside." Onami examined.

_'Could you please not hit on me while we're both talking like actual human beings for once in a while?' _Kazuka asked in his mind, but he didn't say it because it would make the atmosphere awkward and he'd probably get beaten to a pulp for saying that.

"Can I go? I've got to get to my club before President breaks both of my arms for being absurdly late." Kazuka asked. Onami's eyes went wide and she remembered she was going to say.

"Oh right! I nearly forgot what I was trying to say," She remembered. Kazuka felt cold, he knew this was not going to be good.

_'Shit, she's going to say something that I know I'll go against.' _He thought.

"I want you to join another club." She ordered.

"Another club? Isn't one enough?" Kazuka said.

"You're right, but this one is essential for your dead, emotionless personality."

"Say something that hasn't been pointed out about me, please."

"Just be quiet and listen to me." Onami growled, "Now, I want you to join this club that was made just recently. Apparently, the teacher of class 2-F is the consultant and I've recommended you to go. Because I did recommend you, I want you to join this club. I think it can help you out with what's wrong with you and make you a better person later in the future than what you are right now."

"Are you saying that I'm mentally unstable or something?" Kazuka asked.

"Where the hell did that come from..?" Onami said, surprised that Kazuka made that unrelated prediction of what she said. "No, you fool. I want you to join because it will help you."

"I don't need help, sensei.." He growled.

"Quit growling like a beast and just listen to me like you've always have."

"I'm not going to because I don't need to." He declined, about to walk past her until he stopped of what she said next.

"You know you still owe me for what I did for you a while back, you know." Onami mentioned. Saying this stopped Kazuka in his tracks, "I know you're a pessimist and you're anti-social, but I know that Kazuka Ujimoto would repay anyone to who he was in debt to. I'm just asking you to do this for me, just this time. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't care about your well-being, Kazuka. Keep that in mind."

"..." Kazuka stood silent, looking behind his back to see his teacher.

"It's up to you, I'm not forcing you, but I want you to join this club. I know that you'll do the right thing, because you've always done the right thing from the start." Onami was saying things to try to persuade him, but in the end, she wasn't sure if she managed to do so, "Well, I'm heading out. I will see you tomorrow." With that, his teacher headed out. Leaving him alone in the empty class.

Alone.

It defined what Kazuka was feeling in High school.

He felt alone, but he never cared.

So why was he feeling so empty inside?

* * *

As he walked the empty hallways in the light of the sun, he heard his phone ring. As he got out his phone in his uniform vest, he flipped his phone and answered it.

"Hello?" He answered.

_"Onii-chan? I got home by myself, I think the path you made for me is okay. I'm at home, now. When are you coming home?"_ It was his sister, Ujimoto Harumi. He made a path for her last night to take by herself once she got out of primary school so that Kazuka could have more time to work on other stuff while he could rest easy, knowing that his sister got home safely.

"I'll get home soon. Just do your homework and don't watch too much television. Don't eat too much junk food, got it?" He ordered. His sister hummed in a agreeing tone.

_"Okay, I hope you get home later, it's really lonely here. Bye, onii-chan, love you!"_ Harumi said, with a cheerful tone.

"..Yeah." Kazuka responded, with little expression in his voice. He hung up and flipped the phone back to put it in his vest. He then proceeded to continue onto his club.

As he got to his club room that was mainly the training room with a ring and many sport accessories, he was approached by a tall girl who had violet hair, a dark expression on her face and was wearing a muscle shirt along with sweatpants and sneakers. Her name was Asami Mizuki.

"**Hey, Ujimoto.. what the hell took you so long, huh?..**" She growled, cracking her fingers.

"Sorry I was late, president." Kazuka apologized as he walked past her. Mizuki was confused, that certain look usually scared Kazuka a little. She became a little concerned and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Kazuka, what the hell's wrong? Did Fujiwara-sensei punish you or something?" She asked.

"No. It's nothing, president."

"You better not be lying to me." She said.

"If I lied to you, I'd be an idiot to do so." Kazuka admitted.

"Tch, whatever." Mizuki threw off the concern and went back to doing what she was doing.

Kazuka dropped his bag and met the other three members who were sitting down in chairs, Takeda Ayame, Terumoto Munari, and Yu-jing Chao.

"Hi there, senpai." Ayame greeted, fixing her glasses. She took the habit of calling Kazuka 'senpai' because she was being taught by Kazuka most of the time and she learned many things because of him. For her, it was respectful to call him that. Kazuka didn't care because he took little attention on working on a relationship and just wanted to help people like Ayame with whatever she needed help on.

"Hey, took you a while to get here, Kazuka." Munari reminded him of the time it took him.

"I know that, idiot." Kazuka said, slightly insulting Munari. Munari gritted his teeth and looked away from him.

"Oh, you're still here, Yu-jing."

"O-Oh.. uh.. hello.. it is.. good to see.. you again." He stuttered. Yu-jing was a transfer student who came from China and he wasn't fluent with Japanese yet. He couldn't speak the simplest of Japanese that well yet, but Kazuka understood that and he knew that Yu-jing was taking Language classes to help him with that problem.

"I thought you said you were helping him.. it doesn't sound any better than a week ago." Kazuka growled, turning to Munari. Munari grunted in surprise and flailed his hands in front of him.

"I was, but it's harder than you think. Even with Ayame translating and stuff, it's like trying to teach a kid to write simple Kanji!" Munari said.

"**Excuse me, Ayame, what are they saying?**" Yu-jing asked in chinese. Out of everyone, Ayame was the smartest and knew several languages, so she could understand what he was saying.

"**Hm, well, they're talking about your speech in Japanese.**" She answered.

"**Are they saying that it is good?**"

"**Um, well-**"

"I'm telling you, he's not good with Japanese right now, he actually kind of sucks at it! For someone like him, it takes at least like a few years to fully speak Japanese fluently." Munari admitted, irritated from Kazuka's hassling.

"You should still try your best to help him, if you tried a little bit more harder, maybe he wouldn't be so horrible in Japanese, Munari. Stop being a lazy idiot and try to do something that's actually counts to being smarter."

"**W-Well, th-they're saying it's okay! It's all fine, Yu-jing!**" Ayame lied, having a nervous smile while she laughed nervously as well. Yu-jin smiled at her lightly and nodded.

"**Oh, that's good to hear.**"

"Hey, guys, quit screwing around, I brought all of you here for just a meeting!" Mizuki yelled. Everyone turned to her and listened. Ayame was translating to Yu-jin while she talked, so he knew what Mizuki was saying to them.

"A meeting you say? I hope it's worth our time, president." Kazuka asked.

"Yeah, yeah, now shut up and listen." Mizuki ordered, "Anyways, you all know that the school's been paying our trips to tournaments and stuff to let us represent our school and things like that, but this time, it looks like we're going to be going against other schools from other countries this year. But, it won't come until later, near the end of the school year."

"Really? That's pretty crazy!" Munari said, a little excited.

"Then, we'll have to do our best this year, yes?" Ayame asked, before translating again for Yu-jing. Yu-jing nodded with her.

"Yeah, everyone will. Even if it's until near the end of the school year, we need to make as much time to hone our skills up." Mizuki said, "Kazuka."

"What?"

"You know, we've all done well a lot of times, but you always amaze me with whatever crap you do in the matches." Mizuki admitted, "That's why you've gotten first place most of the time in all of our matches from the start. We all expect that you do something big for this one."

_'First place?'_

"You've told me that many times, president. You don't have to tell me over and over. That irritates me." Kazuka lied, slightly irritated.

"Okay, then.." Mizuki understood, "Well, that's all I got to say to you guys, you can all go home early." Mizuki then went into the locker rooms to change and everyone else said goodbye to each other, but Kazuka just sat still on his chair for a while. He didn't even know that he was winning first place many times. Kazuka had just realized it just now, but he was so concentrated on getting the prize money for first place to support his sister and him, he didn't care about bragging about being in first place or something like that.

It showed how hard he was striving to help himself and his sister.

* * *

After realizing what he was told by his club leader, he took his bag and left his school. It was friday, so he had Saturday and Sunday to do important things that were on his list that he couldn't do because he was busy on the weekdays. By the time he was home, it was getting dark. The lights were all off and the only radiating light he could see was from the television in the living room. He growled as he saw that Harumi forgot to turn it off, but soon realized that she was on the couch, but she fell asleep, most likely waiting for him to come home.

Kazuka didn't make any expression other than his regular frowning face. As he turned off the television, he picked up his nine-year old sister and brought her to her bed and placed a blanket over her as she snoozed lightly.

_'Forgive me, Harumi. I wasn't there to be with you in time, but, your brother is going to make your life much easier. I promise you.'_ Kazuka said to himself in his mind. He then left her room and went into his room, took off his uniform clothes and put on his sweatpants and plain white shirt. As he laid on his bed, he put his forearm on his forehead, thinking about what he was told today.

_"I know that you'll do the right thing, because you've always done the right thing from the start." _His teacher's words echoed through his mind and he began to wonder if he should. He didn't want to, but he felt like it was the right thing to do because he **did **owe his teacher due to a memory where she greatly helped Kazuka get accepted into the school and he wanted that off his back, otherwise she would hold that over his head forever and he hated when people did things like that.

_'A club, eh? Tch, you really know how to blackmail a person, Fujiwara-sensei.' _Kazuka thought, as he fell asleep.

He hated to join a 'club' that he didn't even know about. It was alien to him to join certain clubs that may not be his type, but if it meant that his debt would be paid off, he wouldn't have to live with such a pathetic debt over his head, thus, it would make his life easier.

Kazuka would do anything that would make his life easier. To join a random club that felt ominous enough or join a tournament to solve his problems, it surely was worth all the way for him.

But the more easier his life became, he felt more obligated to help others rather than just concentrate on his own life so that he wouldn't fall behind while helping others with their own problems.

There was many things that Kazuka could answer, but he could never answer why he felt that way.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Whew, long chapter. Took a while to make this. I had to take some time to ensure that it made sense and that Kazuka's personality was good and it didn't go off-track, otherwise, I would lose something that means highly on this story to make it interesting. I hope it's not too 'unreal' as people quote it and I also expect that I did well on this too. Please, comment and favorite. Expect new chapters to come anytime.**

**-Depressed Paperbag**


	2. Service

**Chapter Two: Service**

I definitely was not looking forward to this new club. I didn't want to join, but then again, I usually get into bad situations. Like these. After the weekend, it looked like it was back to labor for the slaves and back to being scolded by my two-faced, ape-acting classmates. That's great, being blackmailed by my deceivingly evil teacher was already enough for my mind to digest down, now I had to face my classmates and the overly-cheerful atmosphere around me. It's overly disgusting to me and I doubt I'll be able to handle it on my third year.

How much could this club impact on me? I asked myself this as I stood in the bathroom sink, splashing water in my face to snap me out of my exhausted state. There's a reason why I don't want to join this club, and that's because I have better things to do than reorganize myself and my personality. That's below everything else that I have to sort out. So, what? Who care's about my personality? Who care's about what I think about other people? It's completely useless to work on things like that. It's up to me if I want to fix my attitude problem, Fujiwara-sensei shouldn't even be worrying. She's getting pretty old anyways, shouldn't she be worrying about getting wrinkles? Besides, I have no one I talk to a lot, meaning no one notices my 'disgusting' mood and cares how I'm doing. Which is just fine by me, I could care less if my entire class began to play nasty pranks on me.

My school is a completely mad world, but then again, only the mad would be sane in a mad world.

Why should you change yourself? Why should someone come up to you and ask you to change yourself? You are who you are, can you not accept that? All of these questions were blowing into my mind as I was holding onto my younger sister's hand and walked her to her school at the crack of dawn. It wasn't far, so I was able to get to my school in time as well. She waves to me and tells me to have a good time in my school. How 'grown' up.

I was told that high school would be better than anything else by one of my so-called 'friends' in primary school. I wish I could just yell at him and call him pathetic and foolish. No one ever knows what will happen, you can try to pray and hope that something positive might come up, but it'll always go the other way of what you thought That's just how it goes. Nothing ever goes anyone's way. Everyone gets what's coming to them. It doesn't matter if it's an hour or twenty years from now, it'll come to you and when it does, it'll hit you harder than anything that's hit you physically or mentally in your entire life. Just like the calm before the storm: you can rest easy for now, but later, you best prepare for what comes to you. Karma comes to you eventually, and everyone involved suffers along with you.

Look what happened to me, I hoped that lots of good things would happen to my life to make it better, but I got my hopes up too much as a child and I just denied the inevitable. All it did was leave a big mark that'll mark all over my entire life until the day I die. That's what happens when you don't accept reality. You can sure screw up your life, but that doesn't mean it's over. All you need to do is 'salvage' whatever you have left in you and use it to give you even just the tiniest ray of your future and don't ever trust the deceivers and care about the lower-grade humans and those who haven't left you. Don't let your kindness become your greatest weakness, or it's just as good to not have any at all.

Have you ever heard of the Japanese proverb, _"don't let your daughter-in-law eat your autumn eggplants"_? There's even a few who don't know what it means. To this day, that line has always been in my head. So, what does it mean?_  
_

Simple.

**Don't let yourself be taken advantage of.**

* * *

It was Monday and Kazuka was done with his classes. It was after school and he was being escorted by the teacher of class 2-F and consultant for the club that Kazuka was eventually told was call the "Service club", Shizuka Hiratsuka. She brought Kazuka to the desolate-looking part of the school and there wasn't a sound anywhere. Complete silence. It was so completely dead, Kazuka's breath could be heard. Since he had already been told of the purpose of club and the club's name itself, he wouldn't have to ask such dumb questions to his fellow club members. As they began to get closer to the club, Shizuka began to speak first to him. Kazuka was surprised that she actually was going to talk to someone like him.

"So, I hear that Fujiwara recommended you to this club." She mentioned. Kazuka's brown eyes turned to her, not making a gesture to respond to her line. When he was told that the purpose of the club was to simply 'help' students with whatever concern or problems they had with the skills that the members had, it only took a moment to understand why his teacher picked him. It was so obvious that someone like him had the skills to help others with problems since he was well aware of the social problems in school and knew the quickest ways to 'resolve' them.

But, he still didn't understand why this would help him with himself. It's not like he needed any help with anything or fix anything wrong about himself. Besides, it was more of a case of being blackmailed by his own teacher than being recommended. For Kazuka, if it wasn't for his teacher, he would never be here in the first place. He'll remember this incident forever and hold it against her for the rest of her life.

"Yes, _recommended._" Kazuka replied, saying "recommended" in a very sarcastic way.

"Well, I know she's smart, she picked someone who's good for this certain kind of task. There's not a lot of people in this club, yet. Get used to it." Shizuka said.

"So, are we there yet?" Kazuka said impatiently.

"Just be quiet and just follow me."

They walked only several more seconds before stopping upon a door that didn't even have a number on the doorsign. Nothing. No number and alphabet to tell the room number. It looked really odd and Kazuka began to have a lurching feeling in his stomach, he knew something behind the room was something familiar and he was going to have to grudgingly face it with his face up or the day would last an eternity.

"Here we are." The lab-coat wearing teacher said.

"This place is stenches of something ominous. I could just tell by the quiet hallways and the door itself that this wasn't going to be good. You expect me to work in a place where I have to 'help' people? I have more important things to do than improve myself, you know." Kazuka admitted that he did not want to be here, but Shizuka just shook her head and grunted.

"God, you're just like Hikigaya."

"Who?"

"You'll see." She said, "Now, there's two club members already and I want to let you know, they're both completely different when it comes to you. One of them is rather quiet and tends to just sit down and read her books whenever she's not saying anything and the other one has dead-fish eyes and has a personality of a petty crook. But they both have great skills, especially if it sparks up an investigation. Get used to working with them and find out your problem."

_'One of them is a girl?' _He thought before returning to reply to the female teacher, "If you're going to tell me all of that, why don't you just give me an entire book of their lives- my problem? What the hell are you talking about?" Kazuka asked, now upset.

"Fujiwara told me everything, and you sounded like a pitiful and conflicted person when I heard her talk about you. I don't hear anything good about you other than you're a ball of potential." Shizuka revealed. "I hope she's correct. This club isn't just where you do things to help the students, it's more of listening and fulfilling other students wishes." She clarified, "But more importantly, you also find things wrong about yourself as well, or you try to solve your own problems. You can take a look at Hikigaya and you'll understand what I mean."

"I wouldn't want to take a look at anyone." Kazuka said, disgusted. Shizuka chuckled at his comment, agreeing.

"True. Now, time to find where you end up here."

The teacher knocked on the door and a feminine voice was heard from the other side of the room. Kazuka's mind jolted. He knew who's voice this was, and he reacted to it as quick than anything else in his life.

"Wait, this girl, who is she?" He asked.

Shizuka didn't answer and opened the door. Upon opening the door, he saw that two students were sitting down on chairs. Both were a little distant from each other and their heads turned to the teacher and the student near her. One of them had a sour look, and upon inspection, he did indeed have eyes of a dead fish. It felt like he was staring into Kazuka's soul.

The other had a cold look, it looked neither positive nor negative towards him. Though, this time, it was a girl who could be the most beautiful girl in the school. Which was probably true, but she was giving off that ominous wave that didn't appear to match well with her appearance. Her and her personality were two complete different things. To Kazuka, it appeared the only thing cute about this girl was her face. This was most likely the same thing with Kazuka as well, being known to appear handsome, but still be completely heartless and pessimistic, despite his appearance.

Though, Kazuka already knew these things by just looking at her. In fact, he already knew this girl. She was Yukinoshita Yukino from class 2-J, one of top classes which consisted mostly of geeky, wealthy girls.

"Oh, it's you." Kazuka groaned, disappointed.

"Hiratsuka-sensei, why did you bring such a disgustingly rude person here? He even talks odd, but he sounds even worse up close." Yukino asked, insulting Kazuka at the same time, but all he did was roll his eyes.

"You know him or something..?" The boy asked, who Kazuka assumed was Hikigaya Hachiman.

"I've seen him before. You must be Ujimoto Kazuka from class 2-D, I presume?" She said, with an elegant voice, but almost no emotion at all in it.

"And you must be Yukinoshita Yukino from class 2-J, the so-called honor student. So, since when have you ever cared to know about me?"

"I've heard rumors about you, you're known as a-"

"Pessimistic, lazy, emotionless, serious, anti-social idiot, or freak. I've heard of the rumors myself, but that covers about a third-fourth of the rumors." He asked.

"I was also going to add that you're rude and that your inhumane nature is a danger to everyone who comes near you." Yukino added, causing Kazuka to shrug his shoulders, but he was getting agitated on the inside.

_'She's still has that charm to make everyone hate her.'_

Shizuka saw the situation and decided to break it, she wanted to ensure that the group wouldn't break so easily just because of one conversation that could possibly go the ends of the earth. She walked between the new club member and the first club member to join and cleared her throat.

"As you all should know, Ujimoto Kazuka has been recommended to join this club and thus, he's officially a member of the Service club and will work with both of you. You two don't need to worry, despite of the rumors, this student is quite good at doing the certain tasks that the club will be usually given by any students." Shizuka attempted to convince each student to work together, but each one appeared to have mixed opinions.

"I don't need to worry about anything, all I need worry about is you picking guys that are described like me." Hachiman said, comparing himself to Kazuka. Kazuka thought about it for a moment, not seeing the comparison before going back to talking to Shizuka.

"I really don't like working with girls who are against my existence and guys who look like they're on the verge of absolute sickness, but I will, if there's no other choice." Kazuka finally agreed to working with students that he had just met, despite that were completely different when it came to each other's attitudes and one of them already hates him.

"Hey, hey, you better keep me out of this." Hachiman commented.

"It appears that you need some help with yourself, Ujimoto-san. Despite my disapproval to work with someone as odd as you, it is my duty to help the less fortunate such as disgusting people like you." Yukino agreed as well, despite her mixed opinion. But with what she said, she left a smile that appeared more dark than cold.

_"Really.. the less fortunate..?" _He whispered, more amused than surprised that Yukino would say it like that.

"Yeah, yeah, it really doesn't matter to me." Hachiman agreed, not caring about the outcome.

"Alright then, it's settled and done. What happens now is all up to you three." Shizuka said, but before leaving, she patted Kazuka's shoulder with her hand, receiving a questioning look from him.

_"I expect something good to come out of you from this experience." _Shizuka said to Kazuka.

_"I expect nothing. Anything comes and goes. Nothing's really 'expected'."_ Kazuka replied, and with that, Shizuka left the room without a word of reply to Kazuka nor the others. Kazuka looked behind him to look at her before the door went shut.

But he could've swore he saw a grin on her face. It made Kazuka shiver and wanted to get away from the place as far as could. As the door closed, Kazuka turned his head back to the duo. He quickly looked around and noticed stack chairs. He took a chair and sat down. It was only silent for a moment, until Kazuka started up a conversation. What else was he going to do? Stare at two students that had the personalities of completely anti-social freaks just like himself? Kazuka would rather do something unusual rather than something stupid.

"So, telling by your faces, do you both of you have friends or anything?" Kazuka asked. As soon as he asked this, Hachiman grunted and Yukino shut her book. Kazuka felt a ominous atmosphere overtake the room in an instant.

_'Oh great, did I say something painful?' _Kazuka mocked in his conscience.

"It's something that isn't essential for me, it's more of not wanting to be close to others so that I can endure my own principles." Hachiman said.

"So you don't have friends, you say?"

"If you want to put it that way-"

"Nevermind. I was foolish to not notice your dead eyes, it's obvious that you're a complete loner." Kazuka cut him off, Hachiman rolled his eyes so slightly, it was impossible for anyone to know that he rolled his eyes.

_'If you noticed, why the hell did you even have to say anything?' _Hachiman muttered.

"By the word, "friends", let's try to define what relationship that would that be." Yukino said.

"That kind of sounds like something someone with no friends would say." Hachiman commented. Kazuka somewhat agreed with him for the first time, but Yukino didn't react nor reply to him.

"That's quite odd, you're particularly mentioned about by the two-faced students that go here. You're well known and even respected by some lower-grade students, and you don't have friends? How could you not have friends?" Kazuka questioned, despite already knowing the answer. This only made Yukino sigh and look at Kazuka. Despite her cold look, Kazuka was listening, and so was Hachiman.

"What I'm going to say may be painful for both of you lonely failures like you two." Yukino warned.

"Like I care." Kazuka brushed off her warning, not taking it seriously, "Besides, I've taken in lots of painful things, in all of its forms."

"Trust me, I've already had my share of pain, you don't have to worry about me." Hachiman added.

She then spoke, her speaking was mainly of her past. It sounded like her Junior high years, or somewhere around there as Kazuka inspected. As she spoke, the two loners listened to her story that sounded like a typical loner story to Kazuka.

"Ever since I was in Primary school, all of the boys who knew me were basically in love with me." Yukino started off, "But, I didn't want to be popular in the first place."

"Those guys sound beyond blind. It's how guys are though, if they only know a girl just a little, they desperately cling onto the idea of that the girl might like them just because her face is cute. Though it's completely a loss cause and it's stupid to think that way." Kazuka examined from what she said, and in just a matter of seconds, he already came to a conclusion for it, "I'm sure one by one, they all confessed their hopeless romantic feelings to you, didn't they?"

"No, rarely any of them confessed because they were too timid, and those who did, I declined. Each one broke down in tears, which was quite pathetic and idiotic."

_'If you can make a man cry, then you must be extremely straightforward with people. But why am I thinking about this? You've always been straightforward, regardless of who you're talking to.'_

"You're that popular and you call yourself lonely? You're beginning to make popularity sound bad." Hachiman said.

"..." Yukino stood silent for just a moment, until both Hachiman and Kazuka heard her grip her book a bit harder. Both raised an eyebrow, "If I everyone respected me, I admit that it would be nice."

_"Everyone, hm?"_ Kazuka muttered, beginning to understand what she was trying to say, but Hachiman was a bit confused.

"Eh? What do you mean?" The dead-fish eyed boy asked.

"Not **everyone** liked you then? That's what happens when you're liked. There's always someone in the shadows who wants to take you down with them because you're just more acceptable by others." Kazuka evaluted from her line, which sounded like a riddle. Kazuka excelled at understand what people were trying to say. Through his time of being ostracized, Kazuka took the habit of evaluating proverbs without the help of internet text evaluating them because he related his life to many proverbs, mainly the ones that were negative. He knew all kinds of proverbs that ranged from Japanese to Arabic.

It is quite unique for someone to understand a line that wouldn't make any sense. But, because of his study of understanding lines that made little sense, Kazuka could understand what people were saying or how they were feeling while they spoke by just looking at their faces and the tone of their voices themselves. It was possible that Kazuka could be the only one who understood **all **meanings of Japanese and foreign proverbs in the school.

Yukino didn't reply to him and continued to tell about why she didn't have 'friends', "In Primary school, I had to go through with my schoolmates hiding my shoes at least sixty times." She revealed, "Fifty of them were committed by girls, but the remaining ten are what worry me the most."

"It sound's like every single girl in the school hated you." Kazuka predicted.

"They were all envious of me, it can't be helped. Because of those incidents, I had to bring my recorder and shoes home with me, every single day." Yukino replied.

"Sounded like it was tough life." Hachiman said.

"It was," Yukino admitted, "And you know what's unbelieveable? It was all because I was cute." Yukino revealed, causing Hachiman and Kazuka to look at each other grimly, before turning their heads back to her.

"Though, it's not surprising. After all, No one is perfect in this world," Yukino said, looking towards the bright world that appeared ironic to Kazuka. She was speaking so coldly that she was able to change the atmosphere of the room from nothing to heavy, yet she's speaks while the world shines as if wouldn't care about the struggles of others, "People are vulnerable to being envious, being evil, always wanting to bring others down with them." She examined the hearts and nature of humans clearly. Kazuka was a little surprised that there was a little part of Yukino that was actually comparable to a little part of him. He had always thought that way about humans, never changing his mind about them and thus, being unable to trust them completely.

"Society's been like that for a while now, anyone decently smart knows that." Kazuka said.

"What's more astonishing is that, as of how the world is now, if you are more exceptional you are, it is harder for you to live," Yukino added, "Because of this, I want to change everyone, including the world as well." She ended her 'speech' there. Despite her determination to 'change' others, Kazuka had a sour outlook on her last line. Kazuka believed very little in the philosophies that you could 'change' yourself and saw them negatively.

_'You can't change who someone is who he or she is. There's lots of people out there who are completely ignorant and oblivious to their flaws, thus, you can't change them. You can't just be you for a moment, and all the sudden, permanently be a completely different person. People have their own personalities, especially their own outlooks. Still, the question is, Why will they never change? Because it's you. Their flaws and ways of how they think will always stay with them the rest of their lives, because that's who they are. It's just a case of stubbornness and stupidity.'_

After she said that, she reopened her book and continued reading. It was so creepy whenever she was reading after doing something that could be marked as 'emotional' by other people. Kazuka didn't say anything, mainly because he didn't have anything to say. He still wasn't fond in being in a club with a guy who can easily be negative towards anyone and a girl who already has taken the habit of insulting him occasionally.

Then, suddenly, Hachiman stood up. Kazuka looked at him, confused at what he was doing. He was confused on why he was standing up. Was he having some kind of epiphany? If he was, it would be very awkward to be in this room. He then realized that he was most going to say some thing to Yukino. Kazuka gave him a disapproving look.

"Hey, Yukinoshita.." Hachiman started slowly, "How about I become your frien-"

"Sorry, it's not going to happen." Surprisingly, both Yukino and Kazuka said this at the same time. Both exchanged looks as they heard each other.

_'The very warmth of this room just got taken away. What the hell is up between these two?' _Hachiman wondered.

"Ujimoto-san, your constant interrupting is quite upsetting and disgusting. You should stop it." Yukino said, with an insulting tone.

"As for you, Yukinoshita-san, your need to change your typical sour, cold looks. By just looking at your expression, it makes me want to shrivel up and die." Kazuka replied, insulting back no less.

"That's because by looking at your personality and hearing you talk, it's so painful, that I can't bare to look at you properly." She replied back.

After all of that mostly negative discussing, they all heard the door open and in front of the opened door, appeared a rather attractive girl who had pink hair. She looked innocent and carefree, so she couldn't have been recommended. The girl didn't seem like the type to understand the world easily as it is right now as Kazuka inspected her appearance. Her appearance, including her face, allowed him to predict her personality, and it was usually precise.

"Um.. excuse me.." The girl said hesitantly, "Hiratsuka-sensei told me to come here and-" She stopped as soon as her stare was locked on Hachiman. Kazuka scooted away from him, despite that he was not even close to near him. Hachiman noticed that he was been stared at as well. He felt a bit sick at someone looking at him and was confused.

"**Eh?! **Why are you here, Hikki?" She asked, calling him by a nickname that was beyond affectionate and it the tone to it was almost poisoning to both Hachiman and Kazuka. Kazuka eventually wanted to know who this girl was.

"Hikigaya-san, do you know this girl?" Kazuka asked, turning to him.

"No, I don't even like to waste my time trying to know everyone in the school." Hachiman replied.

_'Oh god, he is like me. Another thing I have to live with.'  
_

"So, if Hiratsuka-sensei brought you here, are joining? You don't even look the type." Kazuka asked. The girl gave a nervous look and flailed her hands in front of her as her head shook.

"Wh-What?! N-No, I'm not, she just told me to come here." The pink-haired girl replied.

"That makes no sense." Kazuka said, receiving a disappointing sigh from Yukino.

"Ujimoto-san," She said, "This is Yui Yuigahama from class 2-F. You're extremely dense when it comes to certain things like these, please look into these problems of yours."

"If they're my own problems, then I'll look into them when I want to. Don't worry about it," Kazuka replied to Yukino, "Anyways, if she sent you here.. then you must be some kind of customer, yes?"

"What would some slut need help from us?" Hachiman asked, insulting Yui.

"**Slut?!** I'm not a slut! I haven't even had my vir-" Yui stopped immediately before she said something vulguar. Yukino had an expressionless look as always, Hachiman look surprised and shocked, and Kazuka appeared disgusted, mainly because Hachiman started it, but also because Yui nearly said something that would make the entire room awkward.

"A-Ah!? Forget what I-I just-"

"Yuigahama-san, there's nothing wrong about that in this certain age. But, it's useless to put such value on such things."

"Can we please forget about this? This is completely unnecessary," Kazuka pleaded, "Anyways, what do you need help on?" He asked.

"Well.. I.. I.."

"Yuigahama-san has requested our help, it is the duty that we help her. But, we aren't some store that can be used. We will just help her improve on what she has requested, and after that, it will be all up to her to decide what happens after that." Yukino revealed that Yui was their very first client, and that the kind of 'helping' that Kazuka thought incorrectly was more of improving the person than straight-forwardly helping them. "This may even help both of you somewhat-improve your sour, dark, and lifeless behaviors."

"_Somehow, I feel like this is going to do the complete opposite.._" Kazuka muttered to Hachiman, despite his eyes were staring away from him.

"_Tch, I was going to say the same thing.._" Hachiman replied quietly._  
_

"Wow.." Yui said, astonished. "You all really do meaningful things here!" She yelled cheerfully with a smile.

Everyone except Yui gave disapproving looks to each other. They never really thought of their duties as 'meaningful' and it was something that didn't fit well with the atmosphere of the room. They all disagreed on what she said and eventually broke their stares towards each other. Kazuka knew this was his first client, but he was already beginning to hate doing 'duties' in the service club. He hated the people around here who were like him, but they all hated his guts. But, for some reason, despite all of these negative things, Kazuka couldn't help but be obligated to help this sad, pompous-looking girl. He stood up from his seat, causing Yui to stare at him in confusion.

He hated the room and the club. But, he couldn't help but try to do what he could have done a long time ago.

Help people improve.

And also, he couldn't help but finally understand why Yukino would join the club. He felt in his gut that she was most likely the first one to join, because he heard her overly-dramatic speech, but other than that, he knew that there must have been some kind of incident in her cold life that complied her to do the things she does today. Once he put his mind into it, maybe Yukino wasn't such a bitch after all, in Kazuka's eyes, of course. Yukino wasn't the kind of person to lie or to abandon those who were in need of her. Aside from being cold and straightout critizingly hurtful whenever she was upset, she was compassionate and kind to those she helped.

That was one thing that Kazuka respected about her.

But, he still hated her. For his own reasons.

Kazuka stared at Yui for a moment before turning to both Hachiman and Yukino. He was ready to help Yui improve herself and try to win this one over them. It would be something good to hold over their heads about until they graduate.

"Alright, what should we do, you two?" Kazuka asked, a very slight hint of confidence in his voice. Both of them looked at each other with their typical lifeless looks and turned back to Kazuka.

"Don't look at us. You can go ahead and look like an idiot, but don't act like one." Hachiman insulted, receiving a sharp stare from Kazuka.

"Ujimoto-san, you should not look at us when you ask those kind of things. It is obvious what we should do. You looked extremely lost when you said that. Please fix your problem about that, I can barely talk to you when you do such things." Yukino added, causing Kazuka's left eyelid to twitch.

"Could you two not insult me so recklessly while we're on the job..?!"

* * *

**A/N:**

**As you can see, it took me a while to make this. It took like at least 5 days or so to make this entire thing and I am terribly sorry about this. I hope that I did well on this, and feedback is always welcome!**

**-Depressed Paperbag**


	3. Confidence

**Chapter Three: Confidence**

What are you if you feel nothing? Well, nowadays, actually a normal human being. You understand how horrible your life is as you feel a empty hole in your heart. But, sometimes, people think that you can fill it up or whatever. That's a load of crap, if you could fill it that easily, no one wouldn't care about how the world is today. Thus, we wouldn't be a stable society. Isn't that ironic? This world just isn't it without us. People need lonely people.

Apparently, from where I started, I apparently was blackmailed by my overwhelmingly evil teacher to join a club that helps the students of Sobu High School improve themselves. That's odd, it confuses me, are we helping or improving? I'm still trying to get my head around that. After that, I met a girl who's as cold as you could ever imagine and a guy who looks like he's all devoid of life. What a group, an ice-cold bitch, a corpse-looking loner, and me, a guy that despise's his own life, hates everyone including himself, and only goes on for the people related to him.

I sound quite bright, do I not?

If it was up to me, I sound the most dreadful out of the bunch. But, it's already been my first day on the club, and I can tell that none of these students are anywhere near 'bright'. But, that counts towards how they act and think like.

The one that interest's me the most is that corpse-looking idiot, Hikigaya Hachiman. Despite that he's weird and I feel disgusted by just being around him, he has a sense of good sense of reality. He's not your regular idiot who just smiles and acts like nothing wrong. He's a pessimist, which is something good actually good about him, and it surprises me to no end that I find that positive. Though, just by looking at him, he must of had a real harsh past with having that dead look on his face. Which may be the source of dreadful look. It looks like he's about ready to give up on society. But, what am I saying? Of course he's about given up. Almost anyways.

I don't understand why someone as lonely as him would want to join the club, but I don't ever dig into such things. By telling from his tone and appearance, Hikigaya is the kind of person who would never want to make friends. I think it's mainly because of all things that might have happened to him, which even I don't know. I don't get personal with pasts. But, for some reason, he'd do anything as long as it allowed him to investigate something. I don't know, maybe he may have a haunch for interacting with different personalities, or he's only doing this because he has to. From someone like him, he could evaluate many things and relate them to his painfully, pathetic past memories.

Even though I've just met him and already hate him, I can't feel but respect that he's real with the true face of society and hates his own youth. In other words, he's basically a teenager who has a mind of a isolated adult. He at least understands why society is horrible these days and can look through feigning smiles very easily. This is probably why he's a friendless freak, he has paranoia, because he lives in a world where he can't trust anyone. I knew this the moment I had saw his sour look stare at me.

Other than that, he's nothing but rotten. His looks are rotten and his own spirit is rotten. I'm only saying this because I speculate this. I'm only hypothesizing about this creep, and it might not be right. But, seeing my history of predicting people's personalities, I might be right.

But right now, I can finally see what this 'creep' can do. I want to see if this guy is a helpful loner, or just a straightforward loner.

Even though we both hate society as we see it today, my hate for society and the world itself comes from a more serious source.

I **hate** this world.

I despise it.

I wish this world would just go away.

* * *

He didn't know why he was there, but Kazuka found himself in the home economics room with everyone else. Yukino tied an apron around her, and so did Yui. Both Kazuka and Hachiman both looked at each other with their eyes in confusion.

"Why this..?" Kazuka asked, unable to understand why Yui would need help on such a practical thing.

"Don't look at me, I don't even know." Hachiman looked away from Kazuka.

"Yuigahama-san wanted us to give hand-made cookies to someone, but she doesn't have the confidence to do so by herself, which is why she is here." Yukino explained.

"So, we're going to improve her confidence? That makes no sense. Confidence is something you make up yourself, you can't really 'improve' it." Kazuka replied.

"Well, I assume someone as clueless like you would struggle to understand how to improve that, wouldn't you?" Yukino mocked.

_'Yeah, I wonder what other pathetic insults you've got in your pocket as well.'_

"You ask your friends or something for these kinds of things." Hachiman gave a form of advice, but it sounded more of a order more than advice. Yui grasped both of her hands together and looked down.

"W-Well.." She stuttered, "I didn't want anyone know that I was doing this.. and.. my friends aren't really into this kind of situation." She admitted. Kazuka knew on the spot that these 'friends' of Yui must of been a bunch of happy-go-lucky idiots and acted so excitingly with their teenage lives. People like that were **never** suited for such things as these, though, they were never even suited for such duties as the Service club had.

"So, you came to us to help you with cooking cookies, or improve your confidence?" Kazuka asked, unsure of either one they were doing. He was beginning to get restless as well, unable to get a precise answer from this girl. She was beyond shy and was lacking largely in her own confidence of doing things by herself. Her lack of confidence could have been an answer to stick with, but he realized that she wanted to bake cookies as well. Now, he was unsure, because not even he could evaluate her cooking skills unless he witnessed them.

But, according to his predictions, either this girl needed to improve her confidence, or her cooking.

For some reason, he felt that it was both.

"Well.. I don't know.. I heard from Shizuka-sensei that the Service club is willing to accept the requests of other students.." She said, a little nervous over Kazuka's grim, emotionless tone. She felt under pressure by just replying to him.

"No, that's not entirely true." Yukino corrected her, "While we will help you, we do not just 'give you food', we will only help you improve and teach you to allow you to be independent." She explained, amazing Yui as she looked at Yukino with sparkling eyes. It was disturbing to watch someone look at Yukino positively, Kazuka nearly covered his eyes because of it. It was stupid to be amazed of a explanation that was obvious from the start.

"I guess the duel is still up between us, I guess, right?" Hachiman said, which confused Kazuka because he was never informed of a 'duel' that they were assigned to. Despite that he didn't know anything about it, this increased Kazuka's need to win over Yui, in order to show that he was the first one to help out their first client. Not only would he be able to hang this over both Yukino's and Hachiman's heads, he'd also be ahead in this mysterious duel that he didn't know about. Kazuka wanted the day to be quick as it could, so he didn't ask about the 'duel'.

"What should we do? Bake cookies along with the under-confident girl?" Kazuka asked, saying this made Hachiman pray in his mental conscience, not wanting to bake cookies since he was not very good at such things and he didn't want the hassle of making cookies and being insulted by the Ice-queen herself because they taste horrid.

"No, you two are quite bad baking, just by telling at your disapproving looks as we first came in here." She pointed out, the two male students look at each other, confused at how she managed to see through their faces. "You both just have to give your opinions after trying them."

"I see.." Hachiman muttered, understanding the words that came out of her cold mouth.

"Simple enough, but nothing more than that." Kazuka agreed.

* * *

After several minutes of baking the cookies, it felt like it took an eternity for Yui's cookies to come out. Once her cookies were ready, they look.. rather horrid and deformed. They had the color of charcoal and they smelled extremely overcooked. Burnt to a crisp. Kazuka was a bit afraid to now try it, and even Hachiman didn't want to test anything anymore as well, besides, he never wanted to in the first place, but he wanted to be the first to get a point in the duel before Kazuka and Yukino.

Yui did many mistakes, it was unbelieveable. Even the ice-cold Yukino was surprised.

"How could you make so many errors at the same time..?" Yukino said, confused.

"It.. looks like charcoal.." Hachiman inspected. "Is this some poison test..?"

"I-It's not poisonous!" Yui yelled quickly.

"I sure hope it isn't. I don't want to be in the hospital for having food poisoning." Kazuka retorted.

She then picked up one of the charred cookies, Yui had a concerned look as she examined it. She was also a bit afraid to try it. It didn't look great, and it surely didn't look delicious. The other three were concerned as well as she picked it up, because they were all worried if she was going to die if she ate one. They all whispered among themselves about it.

_"Is she going to die?" _Yukino whispered to the two loners.

_"I was gonna say the same thing.." _Hachiman replied.

_"One of you, stop her, please." _Kazuka pleaded.

As the room became awkwardly silent, one of them had to say something. Yukino was basically the one who was ahead of the other two in terms of assisting Yui with her cooking problem. Kazuka wasn't sure what to do. Her cooking skills were so bad, that Kazuka wasn't sure if she'd be able to ever improve them. That's when he knew his answer to help her, and finding a way to do this, he would win this for sure. Hachiman was waiting for the right time to play his part and he went along until he knew that it was his moment to take it.

"If her cooking isn't good, how do we fix this?" Kazuka asked.

"We need to make a strategy to counter this." Yukino answered.

"Yuigahama, never make food again." Hachiman advised.

"Eh?! That's not a strategy!" Yui exclaimed. "Am.. I really not meant to cook?"

"The only thing that can help you is hard work." Yukino replied. "Yuigahama-san, you said that you may not be meant to cook, correct?"

"Um.. mhm." Yui hummed.

"Please, change your way of thinking." She advised. "Those who don't do their best have no right to admire the talented."

Despite that Yui was beginning to understand her, she still couldn't help but try to fit around the three. She didn't want to be no different from them, since she assumed that it would be odd and she would be more nervous than she already is. Yui didn't say anything but hum a little for a moment. But at that moment, everything seemed so quiet, since everyone saw actually how Yukino was like to others. Even if her attitude was haughty, and even if she believed that everyone around her was inferior to her, she wasn't entirely rude or overly nice to them.

She was as fair as any human being could get.

Despite this, Yui still had some problems with herself, and that included fitting herself with others around her. Kazuka was sure that Yukino and possibly, Hachiman knew this as well.

"Heh, Everyone said this method isn't so good, I guess that it wasn't right for this one.." Yui said, causing Yukino to look at her with disapproving eyes.

"Could you please stop that habit to fit into the people that are around you?" Yukino pleaded Yui to drop that stupid habit to try to fit into others to prevent her from being questioned and ridiculed by others. To fit into others was the big 'code' of a eternal follower, and Kazuka knew this.

Yukino was going to go even farther after that, mainly because she was upset about that. Yukino disliked people who were like that. They would always be followers and would never try to improve themselves. Instead, all they would do is follow like a dog and never try to improve themselves. This was the reason Yukino became upset.

"Are you not ashamed that you put your stupidity or clumsiness on others?" She scolded, making Yui look down as her eyes began to water. Both Hachiman and Kazuka had concerned looks that Yui was going to cry. Not because they were worried about her, but because it would be extremely awkward for someone to cry as of now, especially in front of Yukino.

_"Oh crap, she's gonna cry.." _Hachiman whispered.

_"Then say something, you dumbass.." _Kazuka whispered in reply to Hachiman.

_"Tch, right back at you.."_

Yui was surely about to cry. No one would ever take criticism or a scolding well, and thus people usually got upset or cried. Yukino made it so straight-forward with Yui, that it was sharply straight. Kazuka saw no surprise to this, he knew that many people were arrogant and believe that they're the best out of everyone. Anyone who thought like that would never take a criticizing or scolding right. This even went for nice girls as well, they're just too kind-hearted, and being kind-hearted breeds lack of self-confidence, thus it causes them to be prone to breaking down from the smallest scolds or insults.

Though, what happened next, surprised everyone.

"W-Wow.. you're so cool.." Yui was.. amazed?

"Eh?" Kazuka questioned, along with Hachiman, who gave a confused look.

"Huh?" Yukino was confused as well for a moment, due to the reply she had got from Yui.

"Your attitude.. it never falls down and that's so.. cool." She said.

"Wh-What are you saying?" Yukino asked, even stuttering as well. It was so out of place from her personality to do such a thing.

"Well.. what you said did hurt me a bit, and they were a kind of harsh," Yui began, "but I think the words you said came from your heart, right? You're right, because I've been trying to fit in with others.. it's the first time anyone has ever said that to me."

"I'm quite surprised by your thinking, Yuigahama-san." Kazuka admitted, receiving a giggle from her.

"Thank you, Ujimoto-san." She replied.

_"That wasn't a compliment.." _He muttered.

"So, now.. I'm going to try more harder now, and make it better this time." Yui promised, looking at Yukino, "Can you please teach me one more time?"

"..." Yukino stood silent for a moment, surprised that someone like Yui didn't cry or get angry at her or anything.

This made Kazuka realized that Yui was most likely the first person ever to thank Yukino for scolding her. It was so unique, because no one likes to be scolded of their flaws like that. Any person would get very mad if it was someone like Yukino who scolded them. But, Yui was the only person that took her words calmly and positively. Yui gave gratitude to Yukino for scolding her.

It was the first time he had ever heard someone take Yukino's scolding words calmly and thanked her for it.

"Alright, I will help you again with this demonstration." Yukino agreed to help her again. "Please try to do it the way I'm doing it and listen to the method I will tell you."

"Okay!" Yui replied with a cheerful tone.

_"I'm not going to be surprised if Yuigahama-san's cookies look the same.." _Kazuka whispered.

_"I came here to test the cookies, not to talk with you, Ujimoto-san." _Hachiman said.

* * *

After a few minutes, the cookies were made. There were two batches. A bright bunch of cookies, made by Yukino. The other was charred, made by Yui. Kazuka wasn't sure how Yui made so many mistakes. She heard everything that Yukino told her to do, and even showed her what to do. Hachiman picked up one of Yukino's cookies and took a bite out of it, and so did Kazuka. It was good and tasted great, there wasn't anything else for Kazuka to say about it. It was just as good as Yukino's other cooking dishes, which was no surprise.

Though, Hachiman exaggerated it to such a high point. It was so stupid.

"Whoa! This is delicious! Are you some kind of dream chef!?" He asked, amazed over the taste of the cookie.

"Hikigaya-san, you're exaggerating to a point of stupidity. Stop it." Kazuka ordered. "Anyways, it's quite good, Yukinoshita-san. Just as all of your other dishes."

"Eh?" Hachiman questioned.

"What do you mean other dishes, Ujimoto-san?" Yui asked.

Yukino gave him a sharp look of disgust and it also gave a look of telling him to shut up and stand there. Kazuka screwed up and shouted out a line that he didn't want to say. Kazuka cleared his throat a little as he swallowed the last of cookie down his throat. He had to be quick and say something. Both Yui and Hachiman were looking at him, confused and getting more curious as the time of silence increased.

"Nevermind." Kazuka spoke, looking away.

It's lucky they didn't see his faintly light blush on his face, otherwise he'd be-

_"What the hell? Why am I blushing for?" _Kazuka said to himself in his mind as he realized it, until he looked at Yukino.

He was angry. Not only at her, but himself.

_'That.. bitch. I can't allow her to drive me off my own path again. I'll be the one mentally stronger__, this time! Just you wait.'_

"I don't get it.. Why aren't mines like like Yukinoshita-san's? They're completely different.." Yui said, confused.

"How many times do I have to do it, in order for you to do it correctly..?" Yukino uttered.

"Why do you two always want to make cookies taste good, eh?" Hachiman let out a line, preparing to make an attack like a prowling beast. He was preparing to make his move on snatching the point for the 'duel'.

"What're you saying..?" Kazuka questioned, confused.

"Huh?" Yui asked.

"You're a slut, yet you can't seem to understand men's feelings."

**"D-Don't call me a slut!"** She yelled, irritated of being called that.

Now, it was Hachiman's move to go. He wasn't going to waste this opportunity. He wasn't going to being ordered around by someone who is near identical to him, especially not by some haughty girl who insults him every chance she gets. Hachiman was going to be the 'victor' in this one, and he was going to be on top this time. Above the ice-cold queen and the emotionless freak who was even more hateful towards everything than him.

"Just come back in ten minutes." He said, "I'll show you a real handmade cookie."

Once everyone except Hachiman got out of the room for several minutes, both Yukino and Kazuka spoke to each other about what the dead-fish eyed idiot was doing. Yui, with her carefree attitude, stood against a wall, listening, but not speaking in addition to the club's conversation.

* * *

"What do you think he'll do? I feel like he's going to do something weird." Kazuka asked Yukino for her own opinion. She sighed and shook her head.

"That petty lonely wreck is going to do something pitiful."

"So, I assume this is about some kind of duel. What is it?" Kazuka assumed.

"Did Shizuka-sensei tell you about that?"

"No, I heard it from Hikigaya-san's own dirty mouth." He mocked. "And telling from Hikigaya-san's gross smile. It made me want to leave the room before he even told us to."

"This duel is unnecessary. We should be concentrating on other important things, than do childish duels."

"Yet, you're doing it. Still, you haven't answered my question. So, answer it." Kazuka requested.

"You need to fix your impatience, Ujimoto-san, I'm beginning to hate you even more with that attitude."

"Hate me all you want, just answer my question." He replied. Yukino just looked at him with decline.

"You shouldn't speak to me for answers, Shizuka-sensei will answer that." She declined his request.

Kazuka was beginning to get really angry. He wanted to get away from this girl as far as he could. He couldn't stand this girl. To him, she was beginning to look like all the people that hated him, and everyone that ridiculed him.

He hated people like that.

And she was actually getting through him. To the point where he was showing an emotion.

But, he was going to mentally win over her, he knew if he could tolerate her this far, he could keep on going.

But for how long, was the question.

Kazuka took a quiet deep breath and calmed himself down.

"Fine, go ahead and be like that. I would've done the same to someone I hate." He said, not caring about the duel no longer. "If you hate me, and I hate you, then I can surely live with that."

Yukino looked at him with only a surprising look for a split second, before turning her head away from him, now upset herself.

Then, a knock on the door from the other side was heard. It sounded that it was about ready that they go back in and examine Hachiman's cookies. It wasn't going to be good, as Kazuka predicted. Just telling by the smirk he had saw earlier, he didn't just make cookies. He must have done something else that was unique. Maybe he wouldn't see it, but it would surely be there.

* * *

_'I wouldn't mind to see him humiliate himself. It'd be quite funny to see that.'_

As they examined Hachiman's cookies, they looked the same as Yui's. They were charred as well. Somehow, this was no surprise to Kazuka nor Yukino. Yui took a piece and took a bite. It wasn't disgusting, but it wasn't really good. Yukino was a bit confused about what he did, and so was Kazuka, but only for a few minutes.

If there was at least one thing Yukino didn't have, it was Kazuka's great mind of evaluation and understanding. It was no lie, he had a mind where he could evaluate and understand things that made little or no sense. This was one of the main reasons why his teacher, Onami Fujiwara had picked him for this.

Because, he was be able to understand the problems of other students.

_'He made the same cookies as Yui's. They're the same. Too similar.'_

For someone like Hachiman, they had to at least be a tiny bit better, but they appeared the same as Yui's. Which made little sense of what he was doing. Kazuka was now from confused to curious. Why would Hachiman do something like this? Did he make a mistake? Did he try to use the method that Yukino had told Yui?

Then, Kazuka remembered that he thought to himself that the cookies look similar. They even had the same burning smell as well.

_'Wait a second..'_

Then, he realized that it was possible that Hachiman didn't even bake cookies at all. He used Yui's cookies. But why? It was a bit confusing why he did so. Kazuka appeared to be right, he was about to humiliate himself. Even though he now knew this, he decided to keep it to himself. He wanted to hear it from Hachiman's own mouth if he was correct or not.

Though, Kazuka felt it in his heart that he was.

"So, Yuigahama-san, how did it taste?" Kazuka asked.

Yui had a mixed face of feelings about the cookie. She had took a bite out of it earlier and gave her opinion.

"It.. really wasn't that good." She replied.

"But I put a lot of effort into it." Hachiman whined, sounding sarcastically sad. "But fine, I'll throw them away." He then walked to the trash can carrying the cookies as he walked.

"H-Hey! Y-You don't have to throw them away!" Yui sputtered like a fool, not wanting to 'hurt' Hachiman's feelings. That is, if he had any. "They didn't taste that bad."

Hachiman halted, he smiled behind everyone. Now was the time that he played his part and win it. For him. Kazuka and Yukino were both confused, but the difference was that Kazuka already had a prediction of what he did, and he was about to be right.

"Actually, this was the batch of cookies you made." Hachiman revealed.

"As I predicted." Kazuka said, revealing he evaluated correctly.

"Eh?" Yui muttered, confused.

"What is this?" Yukino questioned.

"Hikigaya-san, I knew you didn't even make cookies at all. Which was quite amusing, but why didn't you? I can't seem to answer why you used Yui's cookies. Care to explain?" Kazuka asked.

Hachiman began to explain about a story where he used to talk to a girl who usually talked to him about her situations. One day, she mentioned that she liked someone. He asked the first letter of his first name. She coincidentally said the letter "H". Thus, Hachiman asked her if it was him, but sadly, she was disgusted and told him to not be like that.

The next day, on the chalkboard, his own face was written on the board, with him saying, "Could it be me?".

"Hikigaya-san, that's kind of pitiful.." Kazuka said.

"Hey, hey, that was my friend's friend I was talking about." Hachiman lied.

"I'm quite surprised you had friends, I assumed you were always rotten." Yukino insulted.

"At least I had some, unlike a weird girl like you." He replied back, his words were no less sharp.

"We'll argue later." Kazuka stopped both of them, "So, what are you trying to show, Hikigaya-san?"

"Well, to say simply.." Hachiman started, "Men are sad, simple animals. They can misunderstand something by just hearing it, or even looking at it. So, they'll be more than happy to get cookies that aren't tasty."

"So.. wait, my cookies weren't good?!" Yui yelled. "Damn it!"

"What does this conclude to?" Yukino asked.

"Simply meaning," Hachiman wanted to take his time on this. "You just have to make sure that everyone feels your hard work. Do that, and anyone would be touched by that."

Yui was impressed and surprised by what he had said, and both Yukino and Kazuka were both a little surprised, not because they were impressed, but because they were surprised to hear that out of someone like Hachiman. Kazuka then understood that somehow, Hachiman could relate certain problems to his own painful, similar memories. Which, even though quite sad, it was a smart thing. Kazuka knew that he was a lonely freak, like him possibly, but he never took him as someone who could understand another person's hardship.

Kazuka would be lying to himself, if he just wasn't a tiny impressed. He was a honest person.

Most of the time.

"So, would you be touched as well, Hikki?" Yui asked, calling him by his 'flattering' nickname.

"Me? I'm beyond touched already." Hachiman answered, but it was unsure if it was either real or he was speaking sarcasm, "And please stop calling me Hikki."

Kazuka felt that this was about over, but not yet, he could play a big part in this as well.

It was **his **time to shine as well.

"Still, despite hard work, there are still things to fuel such things." Kazuka added, receiving looks from everyone.

"What are you trying to add, Ujimoto-san?" Yukino asked.

"Well, making hard work is having confidence in yourself." He answered, "Yuigahama-san, you said that the method may have not been good, why do you think you said that?"

"Umm.." She hummed, unsure, "I.. really don't know.."

"That's because you didn't have the confidence to 'believe' that it was good." Kazuka revealed, "You must be firm and confident in the path you believe in. Thus, if you make confidence, you make hard work, making hard work means that you may eventually like what you commit to. As Confucius had said, 'Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

"I.. think I'm beginning to understand what you're saying.." She said, "You're telling me I should believe in myself more?"

"Something like that, yes. And please, don't try to be a follower to anyone." Kazuka nodded as he also added a recommendation of avoidance, earning a smile from Yui.

"Thank you, Ujimoto-san." Yui thanked, leaving a smirk on Kazuka's face. Hachiman had a face of disapproval. He had just been on-parred with the idiot who was like him for the duel, this wasn't going to be great for Hachiman.

Once all of it was done, Yui stood silent for a while. She had just learned many things in just less than an hour and she felt already close to the two, despite their disgusting personalities.

"So, what will you do now, Yuigahama-san?" Yukino asked.

Yui stood for a bit, thinking about what to do. She then remembered what Hikigaya and Kazuka had said to her. Even though they didn't know, their words were deep in her mind, mainly because they meant a lot to her, and she was 'touched' by their willingness to actually help her improve. Though, this what she assumed, Hachiman and Kazuka only did this because of the stupid duel.

_"You must be firm and confident in the path you believe in."_

_"You just have to make sure that everyone feels your hard work. Do that, and anyone would be touched by that."_

"Um, I think I'll just stick to my own methods," Yui replied, "Thanks, Yukinoshita-san."

Even though none of them other than Yui were smiling, Kazuka couldn't help but smile on the inside. He felt like it was the right thing to do to help someone improve on their flaws. It was true, Hiratsuka was quite right when she said that it was the duty of the fortunate to help the "less fortunate". He felt like he did something meaningful in the world he hated so.

Though, since he felt like this, even he never knew how much important things he's done for the people around him already.

Kazuka was blind to his own achievements.

Blind as a bat.

Most likely because he didn't care, he only cared for the people around him.

He was happy enough if they the client was fine and doing better.

The only part he didn't care about was being thanked for and being praised upon by others as a 'good' person.

But, to Kazuka, he's the worst human in existence.

* * *

The week after finishing their first job, all of the club members had discussed if it was alright to say such things to Yui. Yukino was typically the one to speculate this and pointed out negatives things that could also breed from such positive things like confidence. Though, despite their arguments, it usually was short and everyone except Yukino would remember the words they said that day.

During that day, Yui also came by, thanking Yukino by affectionately calling her Yukinon. Yukino quickly disliked this by telling Yui to not call her by such a 'disturbing' name. To Kazuka, it was a name was far from being meant from Yukino, since she was far from being 'kindly affectionate'.

Though, it appeared that she thanked Hachiman that most, giving him a bag of charred cookies. Kazuka was almost glad that he didn't affect her the most. But, he soon took this back as Yui actually 'bowed' to him with a humble "thank you". Kazuka told her to never do that ever again, saying that it was weird. Once Hachiman got the cookies and Yui was finished thanking the group for the 100th time, it got awkward. Kazuka and Yukino were the only ones left in the class, since Hachiman had to get home to his younger sister, Komachi, and Yui was tired from bowing a ton of times, and that was already awkward enough.

Kazuka hated the silence that Yukino always emitted with her just sitting down and standing, it was so creepy and disgusting itself.

"So, you think that telling her to be confident was a bad thing?" Kazuka asked, referring to what she had said earlier. Yukino closed her book, turning to him.

"No, I think it's fine that you said that to her," She said, "You just shouldn't say it without mentioning anything bad that may happen. It made you look blind to the truth and cowardly. As I already said, confidence can bring arrogance and stubbornness."

"Yuigahama-san isn't that kind of person, and you know it."

"Anything can happen, can it not?" Yukino questioned, "After all, look what had happened to you. Kazuka-kun."

Kazuka eyes opened wide a bit, surprised that she would go so low to mention the past. Despite his, her's was quite bad itself. He felt his temper go up, he was angered that she had any right to say anything about it. She suffered just like him, she had no right to bring up **anything**. Kazuka took a deep breath and looked at her with eyes. Not eyes of disapproval or anything like that, but he was just upset.

"You're quite a hypocrite, Yukinoshita-san, calling me cowardly. Yet, you have the bravery to bring up something like that."

"So, what I am saying is true, then?" She began to irritate him to the core, "I see that you need even more help than Hikigaya-kun."

"Quit saying 'kun' all the time, it's nowhere near of who you are." Kazuka commented.

"I can see that you're conflicted, Ujimoto-san." Yukino said, going back to calling him Ujimoto-san, "But, you can't seem to express yourself to anyone. Why is that? It appears you're hiding something. From everyone you know."

Damn, she was good. But, she was being a smart-ass at the same time as well. Kazuka sighed, annoyed and stood up, taking his bag with him as he was about to leave the room.

"I don't really have to say anything, especially to someone like you." Kazuka insulted, receiving a sharp look at Yukino. "Also, how long are you gonna pretend you don't know me? It's not like I care, but the act is getting pointless. You'd best stop doing that."

"I'd like to postpone our knowings about each other as long as I can," Yukino answered.

"Tch." Was all he said. With that, he went for the door, but as he opened the door, Yukino said one more thing to him.

"Ujimoto-san, I know that you are quite low, but are you truly that low of a coward to run away from your problems?" Yukino asked, "Even I know you aren't that kind of person. You're quite stupid and pathetic to do something like this."

Kazuka stood silent for a moment. She literally spilled it all out of what he's been called his entire life. He didn't feel sad or angry, he felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was empty, like a hollowed-out rock. And that was what he was, a hollowed-out rock who didn't care much about remembering people of the past and looked **only** to the future. Kazuka agreed a little, thinking it was a bit stupid.

Still, he didn't care. Kazuka turned his head around, looking at Yukino with the most dead eyes that she's ever seen.

"True, I am trash," He said, "But, it's way better than staying and getting help from someone that threw me off my path a long time ago."

Yukino felt disgusted, but she couldn't help but feel a little hurt and concerned as well. With that, Kazuka left the room, slamming the door on his way out.

As he walked home, he thought about what Yukino had said to him.

Her words were true, he was hiding almost everything, even to his sister.

The biggest words that were true, were the most hurtful.

He was, indeed stupid, pathetic, and the worst piece of trash in the world.

But, determined and compelled only by his little sister, the only thing he felt that understood him, would he want to keep moving forward.

He was not going to give up, no matter what.

Because he was Ujimoto Kazuka.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Sorry it took so long, these chapters are very long and take a while to write down. Please include anything that may be out of place. From spelling to character personalities. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will try to make another one as soon as possible!**

**Thank you for reading!**


	4. Unite (Introduction Arc END)

**Chapter Four: Unite**

After the incident, I didn't talk to Yukinoshita-san the entire week. She and I didn't like to bring up things of the past, and we both tripped. Lots of people have tried to be friends with me, but I've always rejected them because it's pointless. I see no reason to make friends of today that can be your enemy of tomorrow. I see no reason to be part of a society that's all built around hypocritical relationships, and a hopeless end to drive you into being shunned, and being prone regret and pain. But, that is how a human changes, does it not? That's how we all change. Regardless if it's me, Hikigaya-san, or Yukinoshita-san, we've all gone through that path, and all we have left is our pitiful philosophies on society and of course, ourselves.

I hate people who try to be friends with me, but I hate people who try to 'help' me even more. I need no help from anyone, that's how I've been. That's how my entire life has been. I rely on no one. Nowadays, it seems that people who help the ones that are down, actually do the complete opposite. That's why I hate Yukinoshita Yukino.

Even though she doesn't say it, I know that deep down, she is obligated to help me in a way. It's how she's always been, even if all it shows is that she's just a cold girl who apparently believes that everyone is her complete inferior. I just want her to stop. I just want her to stop helping me. She'll do the complete opposite and just put me in a even more depressed state, and I'll just say the most hurtful things that would make anyone feel bad.

Just because people want you to change yourself, it's not always that easy, you can't really change who you naturally are or what you're like now. To change yourself means to be a different person. Who would want to not be themselves? I think changing, even changing a little or a lot, is useless and a complete waste of time. Sure, you can change how you see the world, which by itself, is difficult, but you can never **ever** change who you are or how you act like. No one ever can permanently be a different person. And, besides, why should you be a different person? Because people believe that someone as pitiful as me shouldn't exist in 'their' world? I have every right to be who I am, and people have no right to change me or judge me. Ever.

If there's one flaw Yukinoshita-san has, she always finds a way to make people hate her and, if not exaggerating, as a result, get vilified by almost every single student in the entire school, males and females alike, excluding the stupid boys who fawned over her like little puppies. I wouldn't say that anyone is perfect, but there are the 'exceptional' and the 'unfortunate'. I have never labeled myself as any of those. If it were up to me, I would be Ujimoto Kazuka. Because that's who I am, and if 'helping' me means to change me, well, I hate to get help. Because, as I have said, why change yourself? So, you can be someone who you aren't supposed to? So, you can be a so-called 'better' person?

Go ahead, change anything, but don't try to change the impossible.

To change who you are or not isn't something that we humans get to decide.

Even I don't know when I will change, nothing is ever promised.

* * *

The next following weeks, after solving a problem with a overly-crazy writer named Yoshiteru Zaimokuza, who apparently requested all of them to read his novel on a fantasy genre. According to Hachiman, he also had a few problems as well. He had what Hachiman called "8th grader syndrome", which was a high interest in fantasy and magic. It made Kazuka a little uneasy and questioned if Zaimokuza needed mental help rather than theirs.

Despite being highly criticized by both Kazuka and Yukino, he still had smile on a face afterwards, not being angry or depressed by the hurtful words that came of both of the students mouths. It made Kazuka a little surprised that someone like Zaimokuza had existed. Despite still trying to write his horrifically flawed story, he was still happy enough being a writer, not caring for how badly criticized it was.

Out of the few people Kazuka didn't see as "trash" or "idiots", people like Zaimokuza were somewhat decent and acceptable.

After that was solved, another came up the next day, brought in by Yui.

The duty was to help a student from Hachiman's class, Totsuka Saika who requested the help to strengthen the tennis club. Yui had apparently brought him in to help, but Yukino had mentioned that Yui was not a member of the club. Quickly realizing this, Yui made a quick note, saying that she wanted to be part of the service club.

Kazuka was a little uncertain if someone like Yui would be good for the club. But it was up to her, not up to Kazuka. Kazuka wasn't the kind of person to judge people because of how they were. If someone wanted to join a club that wasn't meant for them, he cared very little.

Saika proceeded to ask Yukino if he would be much stronger in the club if he got the help. Yukino corrected him, saying that the club would only improve her, and after that, leave it to him to see if they succeed or not. Yukino also decided to tell Yui to stop saying such things, since they were considered irresponsible. This made Saika somewhat disappointed, but Yui tried to cheer everyone up by saying that if the club had Yukino, Kazuka, and Hachiman on the case, there would always be a solution, which sounded a bit untrue to Kazuka, since he felt a bit pessimistic at that time, and wasn't in the best mood. Somehow, this made Yukino speak in a way that sounded weird and unlike her, as noted by Kazuka and Hachiman.

Yukino agreed to help Saika improve himself with his techniques in tennis, this also went for Kazuka and Hachiman, despite that they were both quiet the entire time. Yukino recommended to do multiple exercises for Saika during the lunch break, metaphorically saying to do them until he died. It scared Saika a little, and even showed Hachiman 'courageously' saying that he'll protect him, which questioned both Yui and Kazuka of something they didn't want to think about any further.

Though, this would only happen the next day, so everyone waited till then.

* * *

The next day, everyone had gathered on the track. Yukino was the one to look over Saika's training, and Yui also was involved to train herself as well. Hachiman and Kazuka did- well, actually, they did mostly nothing. Hachiman and Kazuka did very little and only stood around to 'overlook' the training. In a way. Kazuka relaxed and stayed far away from the group a bit, but Hachiman was a little close. But, he eventually was forced to go away from the girls as Yukino saw through his perverted looks, giving him a dark, evil look by scaring him.

After a while, it appeared that the training was working a little. Yukino was quite harsh, pushing Saika to his limits without hesitation. It was effective, but it was rather brutish at the same time as well. She made him do many things, but it most of the exercises were on the tennis court, and over the next few days, Saika was appearing to get much better.

Kazuka was quite surprised that Yukino had planned the training well in just a matter of seconds, and it showed with effectiveness and even the mental improvements that were also taking effect as well. Saika appeared to be more determined to be more better for the tennis club than a few days ago, and it was amusing that such a simple, but effective exercise course was working smoothly.

After an hour or so of training his hits with the tennis balls, Saika was getting exhausted, but he stood up regardless. After a few short breaks that only lasted for a few seconds, they kept on resuming on the exercises.

But, Kazuka questioned if this would really do anything to impact the success of the tennis club. All they were doing was making Saika better, not the club. Saika was a good player, but what about the other members? They weren't improving, and they surely were not training themselves. Worst, if Saika were to be better than anyone else in the club, that would be bad for teammate relationships. In other words, Saika would be made as a mutual enemy. Everyone would just try to 'downgrade' him, instead of improving themselves. Just like Yukino had said so in Hachiman's case when he was about to decide to join the club itself to 'relight the fires of the tennis members'.

It sounded so stupid to Kazuka.

Despite knowing this, he did not mention it to anyone. He had no reason to say so if he didn't have a solution to fix this. If he said it without preparing a solution, he'd look like an idiot and be given several insults.

Kazuka was not in the mood for such a thing, so he decided to think about solving this problem to save himself a few insults and a bad memory.

As he was in a silent state of thinking, he heard someone knock on the wooden wall that he was laying against. He hoped it wasn't Hachiman, otherwise, he would have to say something about the situation. Kazuka opened his eyes and turned to his left, and appeared in front of him was clubmate, Takeda Ayame. This wasn't the first time she had sneaked on her friend who consider her an 'acquaintance'. Whenever she did this, she was usually worried about something.

Kazuka knew this certain habit.

"Ayame-san, you should stop doing that. You're going to give someone a heart attack." Kazuka advised, a bit serious, but Ayame shrugged it off with a light laugh.

"Sorry, senpai." Ayame apologized, calling Kazuka by the formal word she always addressed him as, "I just saw you out here and decided to see you."

"How heartwarming." Kazuka responded with sarcasm, disgusted.

"You know.." Ayame began, pushing her index fingers together with her socially shy personality, "The club's worried about you. Everyone's worried about you."

"I find that hard to believe, Ayame-san." Kazuka disagreed, "There's a purple-haired woman who always finds the chance to bash my face in, there's another man who always finds a way to argue with everyone, and another who doesn't even understand what I'm saying."

She also laid against the wall as well, staying silent by him for a while until Kazuka spoke up again. Out of everyone, she was worried the most. Kazuka wasn't talking as much as he usually did. Though, he didn't talk much, now, he wasn't talking at all anymore. Ayame didn't get why she was so worried, was it because she believed that she was in debt to him? Or was it just because he was a friend of hers?

"I'm sure you don't think that way, Kazuka-senpai." Ayame said, in disbelief.

"Everything I say comes from my heart." Kazuka admitted, "You've learnt that the hard way."

"I know how you don't even come to the club anymore. Are you leaving?" She whimpered.

"I already told everyone a few days ago, I joined another club, so I won't be able to be there as usual." Kazuka answered, "I didn't say I was leaving. Yet."

"Ah! So you are leaving!" Ayame yelled as she clenched her hands, but not too much where everyone looked at her.

"We all have to one day, don't we?" Kazuka said, without any hesitation.

Ayame felt a little sad at hearing that. She made a lot of good memories with both the club, and her class as well. It made Ayame a little hurt since she was the kind of person who didn't want certain things to end. But, she remembered everything that Kazuka had taught her, and she was grateful. It was just that one year that separated both her and the others. She only a first year student at Sobu High School and everyone else was second year. Ayame took a deep breath, fixed her glasses, and smiled.

She had to be strong.

"You're right, senpai." Ayame agreed with a strong expression, holding her hand out."So, let's do our best when we get into the tournament, yes?"

Kazuka made no expression to her, but he didn't hesitate to shake her hand. Ayame was one of the few who didn't hate him, but only because they were a bit dumb. But Ayame was smart, in a way. Everything that he had said to her at least wasn't for nothing. She held everything he had said to her, because she asked to be a better person after all. Ayame wasn't the person to be arrogant and not listen a single word from Kazuka, despite her overly-messy appearance she typically had.

Even if it wasn't everything, Ayame would want to be taught every single thing before they departed.

_"Why did I accept a handshake from Ayame-san? This is so pointless." _Kazuka thought to himself, a little disgusted of what he just did.

Once their hands both separated, Ayame waved goodbye to Kazuka. Much to her prediction, he didn't do anything and just stared at her as she went farther and farther away. Before she was no longer seen by Kazuka, she winked at him. It gave him a disapproving expression and brought shivers down his spine. At that moment, he heard a loud thump. He turned around to look towards the source and saw that Saika had tripped himself.

"Sai-chan!" Yui yelled, running over to the tripped Saika. "Are you okay?"

Saika stood to his knees, a little hurt, but he wanted to shrug it off. He wanted to work as hard as he could so that hopefully, his clubmates would do so. For someone like Saika, he was quite determined to make the tennis club get better, but it wasn't guaranteed. Kazuka was the only one who knew about the problems about the tennis club's improvements, not the problems about Saika's skills individually.

"I'm okay.." Saika groaned, a bit hurt more than he assumed. "..let's just continue, please."

Yukino noticed the injured knee and wasn't sure if they should continue. Kazuka walked over and saw the wound as well, wanting to stop this so that Saika wouldn't hurt himself any further. Saika knew that his knee was hurt and he could feel the source of the pain mainly from that, aside from the elbow pains and hard blunt pain in his body.

"Are you sure you want to keep on going?" Yukino asked, receiving a nod from Saika.

"Yes.." Saika replied, "I could do my hardest for everyone.. it's the least I could do, and besides.. everyone is here to help me."

"..." Yukino stood silent, but only for a moment. "I see.."

"Is that all you really have to say?" Kazuka commented, a little surprised she didn't respond as he though she would to Saika's words.

"Yuigahama-san, I leave the rest to you." Yukino ignored Kazuka, leaving the rest of the exercising time on Yui's shoulders. Yukino then walked towards the school and left everyone. No one was sure why she did so, but seeing how it was Yukinoshita Yukino, they weren't really sure why she left them after hearing Saika talk.

"Was it something I said that made her angry?" Saika questioned. Hachiman walked up and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Nah, Yukinoshita is like that." Hachiman said, "If she hasn't called anyone stupid or worthless, then she's not mad."

"So.. is she getting tired of me?" Saika responded with another negative prediction, along with a innocent expression that caused Hachiman to let out something that "sounded" like a grunt, "Is it because I'm getting no better?"

"No, that's not true. Even I know Yukinoshita-san isn't that kind of person." Kazuka went against Saika's thoughts. Yui looked him with a smile and nodded.

"Kazukun is right! Yukino wouldn't leave anyone who needed her." Yui agreed with him, calling Kazuka by his own affectionate name that she made up. Kazuka wanted to puke by just hearing her say that stupid name, which was more dumb since she put the honorific, "kun" in that name. The way she was using it irritated Kazuka the most. Hachiman, behind all of them, smirked.

"True, she was able to stand your cooking, after all." Hachiman reminded.

"Eh?!" Yui responded, offended. "What're you trying to say?!"

"I'm surprised you related that to Yuigahama-san's topic, Hikigaya-san. I didn't think someone like you would make that connection.." Kazuka remarked.

"Hey, do you always try to make me sound pitiful..?!" Hachiman replied with resentment.

As the club members were arguing for the most practical reasons, they all heard a shoe slam down forcefully. It appeared that someone was trying to get their attention, with an annoying method. Kazuka and the others turned around, majority of them were wondering who made that noise behind them, but Kazuka just turned around because he hated the sound of shoes slamming down on the ground and it irritated him. If it wasn't for that, he wouldn't care about the person behind him, and would just continue on Saika's training.

"Hey, you guys are playing tennis?" An overly pompous tone came from the blonde girl that was in front of the group, who also had a few "followers" with her as well. It sounded a little mocking, and Kazuka reminded himself to remember her stupidly, cocky-like tone, and her face. "If you are, I'd like to have some space so I can play as well, you know."

She sounded demanding. Kazuka felt disgusted by such a pompous girl. Despite that he was just like this with everyone, he was beginning to get a unique scale of hate for this girl.

"Totsuka got permission to use this." Hachiman responded, "Anyone else isn't allowed to use this space."

"Eh?" The girl was getting irritated of what Hachiman said, "But you're using it."

"No, I'm not." Hachiman clarified. "I'm just helping him out with the training. It's like outsourcing."

"What the hell are you talking about?" She growled, "You're making no sense."

Kazuka was confused. Who were these people? Were they idiotic punks who had nothing else to do, but pick on a few students who were more better than them in reality? He went to Yui to ask her if she knew who these people were.

"Yuigahama-san, who is that girl?" He asked, causing the group to look at him.

"O-Oh, right! You don't know much about our class, do you?" Yui mentioned.

"That's because I don't see the reason to, but anyways, do you know these people?" Kazuka went back to the topic, with Yui nodded.

"That girl's Miura Yumiko, and that over there is Hayama Hayato." Yui explained, pointing to the students as she called their names.

"Thank you, though I was just asking for the girl's name.." Kazuka thanked her, but it put Yui in a curious state when he already knew Hayato's name.

"Eh? What're you saying, Kazuku-"

"You." Kazuka cut off Yui, turning his attention to Yumiko as he approached her. "What's with you interrupting Totsuka's training?"

"Eh? What're you saying?" Yumiko responded. "Who are you, anyways?"

"I don't want you to know me, you don't deserve to." Kazuka remarked, "I don't have to tell you who I am. Anyways, I asked you why you so rudely barged in here and decided to interrupt Totsuka's training."

_"Are you seriously stupid?!" _Hachiman thought.

"You.." Yumiko growled, angered that someone as lower than her in social status would oppose her.

"Are you going to answer me?" Kazuka questioned impatiently.

Before it went any further, Hayato immediately intervened in order to stop the argument to go more. As always, Hayato always had some overly-kind smile on his face. It was no lie, Hayato was "literally" kind to everyone, social problem students or not. Kazuka didn't react to him approaching to the the group, but was more neutral on the occasion, and didn't say anything nor feel positive or negative about seeing Hayato again. But, as always, he kept an eye out for anything mischievous or anything weird that Hayato would pull. To Kazuka, everyone was unpredictable.

"Hey now, let's not start a fight." Hayato interfered with the argument, "We'll all have fun if everyone plays a part of this."

Hachiman had a gross look on his face. Not the typical one that he had, but a rather unique one. Kazuka was a somewhat creeped out by his naturally disgusting looks that he felt like he wanted to break out an insult or two, but he felt that it wasn't the time to commit to insulting Hachiman to a certain point. Now, they had some invading queen with her peasant-like followers and blind knights.

"Eh? Is that something a mother would say? "Everyone gets one"? Or something in those lines?" Hachiman questioned him multiple times, confusing everyone, but Kazuka understood what he was saying, at a point of view. Kazuka saw that Hachiman was trying to shake Hayato in order to get themselves of this position. It was quite a bad situation they were gonna be in with two other students from Hachiman's and Yui's class, and none of them had the time to deal with a group of idiots at the same time as well.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't get what you're saying, Hikitani-kun." Hayato stuttered, a little confused of what Hachiman was saying.

"You've got everything, Hayama." Hachiman continued talking, but more loudly now. "Now, you're gonna take the tennis court from me, who doesn't have anything? Don't you feel ashamed as a human being like yourself?"

Hayato was speechless. Not because he felt extremely bad, but he was so confused that he couldn't find the right words to reply to Hachiman's statement, including the nasty, creepy expressions that Hachiman, including Zaimokuza Yoshiteru were making. As the silence filled around them, a tennis ball hit the ground and Kazuka caught it as it bounced once on the ground to him, breaking the silence.

Kazuka was hoping that the silence would make Hayato's group back off.

"Hey, Hayato." Yumiko got a tennis racket and was ready to play tennis. "Let's stop talking, I wanna start playing."

Hayato turned his head to her, and was in a state of thought, with his index finger and thumb between his chin. Kazuka and Hachiman looked at each other with expressions of concern. They knew they both were going to hate what was coming up next. It was only a few seconds until Hayato came up with an idea. A stupid one.

"Okay, how about this?" Hayato requested. "Hikitani-kun, you and your group should have one match against us. The winner gets to use the tennis court, and of course, the winner helps Totsuka with his training. How about that?"

"Totsuka asked for our help, Hayama-san, not yours." Kazuka replied to his suggestion, but had a refusing outlook on it. "What's the point of having this deal? So that your "friends" can use the court?"

"No, no, I'm saying that playing against stronger opponents would help with Totsuka's training." He clarified. "In other words, the stronger one makes a stronger trainer. Are you okay with it, Kazuka-kun? Hikitani-kun?"

Hachiman nodded without a single thought. Hachiman didn't want to think so hardly about this and wanted to get the situation over with as soon as he could. Kazuka however, had second thoughts about the deal. It wasn't right, Hayama basically said that the better, more experience person should overlook Totsuka's training. It was almost like an insult to the service club being unskilled in situations like these. Kazuka grudgingly nodded in agreement.

_"This is so pointless.."_ Kazuka muttered.

_"Shut up, he's obviously has a higher social status than us. I hate my subconscious mind for being so damn compliant." _Hachiman commented, with the same amount of volume that Kazuka's voice had.

"Hey, that sounds like fun!" Yumiko agreed, enthusiastic. "How about a mixed match? A boy and girl against another pair? I'm so smart."

"I think that would be difficult and pointless. It's just best to have Hayama-san and Hikigaya-san to just go against each other." Kazuka declined the idea.

"Hm, I guess, you're right.." Yumiko said, but sarcastically all the way, and was about to mock Hachiman next. "I mean, would there be a girl who would pair up with Hikitani-kun?"

That angered the silent Kazuka. Sure, he didn't like Hachiman that much, but no one ever insulted any somewhat-decent or so acquaintance of Kazuka's. But, the weirdest thing was that everyone was laughing about it, even Hachiman.

He immediately went from angered to realizing something in just a split second. Kazuka realized that Hachiman was the "loner" type to accept things that were negatively true. It was quite pathetic to Kazuka. Though, it was more "real", than pathetic. Hachiman was full of surprises that Kazuka had never seen in anyone else in his entire life. Hachiman lived with and embraced his own true flaws, not feeling sad or angry whenever someone pointed out or made fun of his own odd, petty personality or making fun of him.

Kazuka also concluded that Hachiman was the kind of person to hold burdens for people. It was quite unique, but still, pitiful and stupid at the same time. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing to admire or a bad thing to scold him about.

"So, who will pair up with you, Hikigaya-san?" Kazuka asked.

Yoshiteru went near Hachiman to whisper to him as he putted his right hand on Hachiman's shoulder, explaining that he had no female friends and that it was quite true that no girl would want to pair up with him, even if he begged them.

That's when Yui stepped up.

"I'll do it." She agreed to be Hachiman's female pair-up since she was the only female club member who was present and she was one of the very few to tolerate Hachiman. Yukino went somewhere, so no one knew where she went. This action confused Hachiman.

"Eh? What're you saying?" Hachiman questioned.

"I'll pair up with him." She repeated to the other duo, Hayato and Yumiko.

"Why would you do that? Aren't you on their side?" Hachiman reminded. "Are you stupid? Or is it because.. you actually like me?"

"**EH?!**" Yui blurted out loudly.

This lead to Yui bashing Hachiman on the head with her racket a few times, before she calmed down, stating that she was only helping a fellow service club member and that it was only natural for her to do so, because she was a club member.

"Yui.." Yumiko called out to her, causing Yui and the others to turn to her. "You do realize if you pair with "him", you're gonna go against me. You sure you're okay with that?"

"Well.. I.." Yui stuttered, trying to find the correct words. Back then, Yui would have had second thoughts about going against her own friend. "I just think that club duties are more important."

"Hm, okay." Yumiko responded. "Just don't embarrass yourself, then."

As the game was about to begin, many students were beginning to pour out from the school, seeing the game that was commencing. However, most of the students only came to see Hayato since they knew how good Hayato was and he had a popularity status in the school.

_"This many people eh?"_ Kazuka whispered to himself. "_I didn't think this much people blindly revere Hayama-san like some king."_

The game then started. It appeared that both Yumiko and Hayato were quite good, while Hachiman and Yui were struggling a little. As both sides fiercely played a tennis game as if their lives depended on it, they began to get tired. This was soon realized when Yui tripped. Yui was doing her best to win this for Saika, and Kazuka saw this. Hachiman went near her to check if she was fine, but it appeared that she had sprained her ankle as she fell down. Kazuka felt that it wasn't right to interfere right now, so he stayed back, his back still against the walls beside the court they were playing on along with Yoshiteru.

"Are you okay?" Hachiman asked her.

"No.. I think I sprained my ankle.." Yui replied. "Sai-chan is going be in trouble if we lose, right?"

"..." Hachiman stood silent, not saying anything to her.

"This can't be!" Yui yelled, causing Hachiman to sigh.

"You know what, just stay on the court for now." He said. "I'll cover for you. Somehow."

"You got an idea?" She asked.

"A few, but you don't need to worry. Worst case scenario, I'll have to get serious, and when I do, it's real easy to kneel down or lick someone shoes." Hachiman explained.

"Heh, you're so dumb, Hikki." Yui laughed a little, not surprised from his answer. "You're so dumb, it makes you bad at giving up."

"Eh?"

"You never give up, even after that time.." Yui began. "..speeding forward like an idiot, letting out a really weird scream.. I still remember it."

"What the hell are you saying?" Hachiman questioned.

"Just hang on, will ya?" She ignored him, leaving the tennis court. Everyone was wondering where she was going all the sudden. Kazuka wasn't sure what was going on, but it looked like Yui just abandoned Hachiman. He wasn't sure though, and he wondered if it was going to get anymore embarrassing. It was already embarrassing enough with everyone to see Yui and Hachiman talking to each other about something that was related to the request itself. At that time, everyone looked at them as if they were crazy.

It was going to get more pathetic with what Hachiman did next. Kazuka was confused at what he did next, and he saw that Hachiman was on his knees, about to kneel to people who were socially superior to him. Kazuka was quite surprised that Hachiman bowed down. He never thought that Hachiman would do such a pride-scarring thing. It was the stupidest thing that he had ever seen anyone do, and he didn't understand why Hachiman was about to do so. Before Kazuka nearly intervened with what Hachiman was about to do, two girls appeared in front of the opening pathway of the court.

It was Yui in Yukino's clothes and Yukino was in Yui's.

Both Hachiman and Kazuka didn't understand what was going on, and Kazuka approached his club members, wanting to know what was currently going on and why they switched clothes.

"What's up with those clothes?" Hachiman asked.

"I don't really know, but Yuigahama-san asked me to wear this for her." Yukino responded.

"W-Well, we were going to lose where we were, right now." Yui explained. "So I wanted Yukinon to be a replacement for me since my ankle hurts."

"But why I-"

"Because you're the only friend I can rely on in this situation, Yukinon."

"..." Yukino was a little silent, until she had a little surprising look on her face. ""Friend" you say?"

"Mhm, friend." Yui replied.

"That's kind of taboo word to call Yukino.." Kazuka commented.

"Hey, hey, is it even normal to ask friend for help?" Hachiman questioned.

"Of course it is! We wouldn't rely on strangers for important stuff." She answered.

Yukino went over to Saika to give her a medical box to help her treat her wound, but since something had come up, Yukino explained to him that she would heal it later. Also, she also explained to everyone else that it took a while to find it because the nurse wasn't present in the infirmary, so it took Yukino herself to find the box. Saika, because of his kind and innocent personality, thanked Yukino for helping him get some aid.

"I knew Yukinon was a kind person." Yui said.

"Really now? I'm sure that someone called me an "ice queen" behind me." Yukino mentioned Hachiman's words, though he was surprised that she actually heard him speak those words. Hachiman wasn't sure how she heard him. "I don't care, it doesn't really matter what people think of me."

"Is that so?" Kazuka commented, unsure if that was true.

"You wouldn't really know. But, anyways.." Yukino turned around to face Yui with a light blush on her face. "I don't.. mind being called a friend either.."

Yui was trembling with happiness, she quickly threw herself on Yukino, hugging her affectionately. Eventually, Yukino told her to release her because she was literally suffocating from Yui hugging her too hardly. Then, another feminine voice broke out, but it was more sour and venomous.

"Yukinoshita-san, yes?" Yumiko had a venomous tone and sounded quite cocky as well. "Sorry, but I'm not gonna be holding back on you. So, if you'd best stop now if you don't want to get hurt."

Yukino smirked, it was typical for her to meet people like Yumiko. She had always encounter people like her back then, and she was going to break that arrogance of Yumiko's, just like she did with every single girl that hated her, and wanted to downgrade her to a lower social status.

"You don't have to worry, I'll be holding back." Yukino told her, "And with that, I will destroy that arrogant pride of yours in the process."

Yumiko responded with a hostile look.

Kazuka went towards Hachiman and held out his hand, causing Hachiman to ask what he was doing.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you want some crappy handshake or something?" Hachiman asked.

"No, you idiot. Give me your racket." Kazuka ordered.

"Why?"

"Because I know that you're tired. You were running all time, struggling to get the tennis ball." Kazuka answered. "Besides, I saw what you did at the end. It was disgusting and embarrassing. I couldn't even wish for you to play now, even if I wanted to."

"At least I'm not afraid to do it, unlike a weird person like you." Hachiman replied to him, but regardless of his insulting remark, Hachiman agreed to give him his racket since he was tired and he didn't want to do any more running around the court like some fool, putting him and Yukino against the other duo now.

Both Kazuka and Yukino looked at each other with a sense of disapproval, but both thought to themselves that they were doing this for the request of Totsuka Saika, so regardless of their "bitter rivalry", they decided to work together.

"I'm only doing this for the sake of the club. If I fail this, Shizuka-sensei will never get off my back." Kazuka explained.

"I had already told you from the start.. I don't really care if I have to work with you, as long as you cooperate. As you know, I hold grudges as well, and it is up to us to finish this." Yukino replied to him with her typical emotionless tone.

"Okay then, I'm only going to unite with you just this once." Kazuka told her.

"Somehow, I doubt that you'll keep to that."

Just seconds after that, Yumiko slapped the tennis ball over to the duo.

* * *

It was quite an amazing match. Both Yukino and Kazuka were quite well in teamwork. They constantly talked to each other of the next move and continued to show that the duo was a force to be reckoned with. Yumiko surely bit off more than she could chew. But, for some reason, even though Kazuka shot the last tennis ball that won them the game, Hayato "heroically" saved Yumiko from running into a wall as she tried to catch the tennis ball that went far up into the air. The weirdest part, was that despite that Hayato lost, everyone cheered for him, as if he was the victor. No one payed attention to Kazuka nor the service club. It was outrageous.

Kazuka was confused, and all the only thing that Yukino told him was, "We won the match, but we lost the battle." and that confused him even more. He wasn't sure if they won or lost. Was it a tie? All of these questions were popping up in his mind, and it was so big, it hurt Kazuka's head. He eventually dropped it and continued on to the next case that would eventually come to them.

After they won, Kazuka and Hachiman were left with the task to help Saika with the rest of the training for the rest of the lunch break. It finished quite quickly, and the two club members, along with Saika went to the service club's room to go tell the girls they were done and explain their results from what they had gotten from Saika due to the training they gave him over the few days. But, awkwardly, both of them barged in a moment where Yukino and Yui were still changing, and they were both half-naked. Kazuka saw Hachiman twitching in front of him and peeked over the slightly taller boy, seeing what Hachiman saw. Yui screamed at both of them, throwing an object at Hachiman's head, knocking him over and putting him on top of Kazuka.

Both of them promised to never speak of the incident ever again, and brought that promise to their graves.

After school, the group was a bit silent after the incident, until they began to discuss about the training with Saika. Both Kazuka and Hachiman gave their evaluations on the training, and it appeared that Saika got much better than he was a few days ago. After that, with a few insults along the speaking, they talked a little bit more about the match than the training itself. Yui stated to Kazuka and Yukino that she was amazed by their teamwork and said that they made the "perfect team". But this only caused Kazuka to roll his eyes, and Yukino to throw an insult about Kazuka, disagreeing at the same time.

After talking some more, Hachiman had to leave early since he said he had to get home for his sister, Komachi, but everyone assumed he wanted to get out as soon as he could before anyone else mentioned what happened in the time of noon. Yui left as well as she was called by her mother to come home. As both Even though it was rarely, Kazuka and Yukino were left alone again. Usually, one of them left before they were the only two left, but neither budged. Eventually, Kazuka wanted to know her opinions on the match.

"Yukinoshita-san." Kazuka said.

"What is it?" Yukino asked, as she read her book.

"At that match, did it irritate you when you saw everyone cheer for Hayama?" He questioned her, causing her to close her book.

"I don't see why you're asking me this, you should already know the answer." She told him.

"No, I want to hear from you. It'd be interesting to hear from the "great" Yukinoshita Yukino."

Yukino sighed. It was certain things like these that she disliked about Kazuka. He was always so demanding, she hated it. Though, if it got him in a decent mood where he wouldn't be mocking her, she would give him a piece of her mind.

"I felt nothing, but I did get disgusted by what I saw." Yukino answered blandly.

"You're making no sense." He commented.

"I felt nothing personal, but I did reflect this on certain things I hate the most." She explained in the most simplest way for the most dumbest person she's ever met. "I felt that very few knew what we were doing and how dedicated we were to improving Totsuka-san that noon, even less more for Totsuka-san. That's how I feel. I feel that those who work hard should be recognized, instead of being unaccredited for of their hard work."

"So, it is personal? Hayama-san took our work then."

"Not exactly. Hayama-kun was blind to it, but he wasn't intentionally doing it. He's still as arrogant as always though." Yukino inspected.

"Well, all that matters is that we helped someone right? That's the purpose of the club, is it not?" Kazuka reminded.

"True, you're actually completely right for the first time."

"Thank you for complimenting me and insulting me at the same time, I'm truly impressed." Kazuka sarcastically said, before checking his leather strapped watch on his right wrist. "It's about time for me to leave."

"I will see you tomorrow then." Yukino responded.

As Kazuka went towards the door, he remembered how Yukino said that she believed that those who work hard should be recognized. It sounded like that everyone should be recognized. Of course, only those who work hard. As he went towards the door, he wanted to say a few more things.

"Yukinoshita-san." Kazuka called, causing Yukino to once again, turn away from her book. "I believe that being renowned for the things you do doesn't matter, knowing that your skills helped even just one person is good. A gratitude from one person is a million times better than compliments from many random people who don't even work hard themselves. That "thank you" from Totsuka was good enough for me."

Yukino was quite surprised, if not impressed by what he said. It was unlike someone to change from overly lonely and quite to confident. But, this is what she had thought. Kazuka, deep down, was always confident in what he did and was helper at heart. Though, the whole point of him of say that was not just because he wanted to say something in his point of view, but to mentally mess around with Yukino. With that, Kazuka opened the door and went through, before attempting to shaken Yukino's mentality a bit more.

"Oh, one more thing.." Kazuka turned around, with a fake light blush on his face, giving Yukino a wide open set of eyes. "Back there, I didn't see anything.. that much.." With that, he left, closing the door behind him.

It left a surprisingly bright blush on Yukino's face.

And it also left a smirk on Kazuka's face.

He was serious when he said he was going to mentally win over her.

It was the end of another day, and Kazuka left the school for home. He had gone over several cases now, but he still didn't understand why he was chosen for this club. Maybe he would know tomorrow, maybe never. He wanted to leave out that he needed "help", because he surely didn't need help from anyone. He was good where he was, but now, he was put in a club, interrupting his normal life. It was hard for him to respect his fellow club mates. He didn't want anyone close to him, because he felt that it would just hinder him.

He knew that Yukino knew things like this, but she didn't say anything about it on the first day. Why not? Was it because she was waiting for the right opportunity to say such painful, but true things about him?

Regardless, Kazuka was a one-connection human being, and it made him the most loneliest human being in the world.

Deep down, he didn't want to be personally involved in anything large about the group itself or any individuals.

But, if there was one thing Kazuka didn't know, it was that he was going to be involved in his own conflict.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Whew! Took a while, 7000+ words. I'm sorry for the long wait, it took me a while to do this. Finally, I'm done with the boring part. Now, it's finally time to concentrate on Kazuka himself. I'm serious, it was BORING to make this chapter. It really is when you have to do the introduction chapters. But, we're finally out of the shade, time for us to start on the plot.**

**"Introduction Arc" is over, time to start on the "Ghostly Past" Arc.**


	5. Family (The Past Arc START)

**A/N: I'm real excited for this, it's finally to work on my own ideas and continue the plot! Just be a bit patient, text contains a little bit of what I call, "text fillers", but I'm still getting there! :)**

**This marks the start of the "Past" arc. Fun! Looks like we're gonna know more about Kazuka's past! Finally, right? XD**

**Please comment and like! Everyone likes them! Even your favorite Oregairu characters love it when you do this kind of stuff!**

**I'm serious! D:**

* * *

**Chapter Five:_ Family_**

It was already the time of May. Just one more month, and hopefully, summer break was coming. Though, I wasn't going to expect to take a break during a 2 month break. I was already behind a lot of things I had to prepare for myself and my sister. I need to catch up to preparations for the future early so that I wouldn't regret anything. Besides, I wanted to get rid of this as soon as I could.

It was just March when me and Yukinoshita-san had won the tennis game, and it felt like everyone was getting to know each other better. Though, I felt that there was something ominous about the three club members that I met every single afternoon. They felt extremely connected to each other and even I can't understand why I feel this.

Something is stirring in their pasts, and they're all connected to it. Well, two, I suspect.

Though, this was because during April, Yuigahama-san mistakenly told me the reason why Hikigaya-san had turned into what I call, a pathetic, disgusting loner, was because he was injured in a car accident he was involved in on the first day of high school, and he took the first three weeks off, leaving him as a loner. This possibly came from Hikigaya-san, to Yuigahama-san, then to me.

When she told me this, I asked her how she knew. She blurted out that she heard it from Hikigaya-san, which I thought was absurd. Someone like him would never tell anyone like this. I told her this and she said that she just happened to ask him about the entrance ceremony and he just happened to tell her about it. I knew something was off, because after I had just left her off and told her to forget what I said, she nodded, then she lowered her head, attempting to hide her frowning face.

I don't understand why I feel so, but Yuigahama-san was conflicted, and I knew this the moment I saw that pitiful frown.

The frown was indeed real, because it caused the entire atmosphere to go from talkative to plain dead in a split second.

This happened during after school, and we both went out of the room because both Hikigaya-san and Yukinoshita-san were arguing over the case we were working on at that time, and they were also insulting each other at the same time. I think she told me this, because she desperately wanted help and trusted me enough that she could rely on me whenever she was in trouble. That frown showed me that she was hurting on the inside, and she was screaming for someone to help her out of this problem. But, to help people with their pasts is not my department, so I didn't ask her why she frowned.

Whenever these "insulting fits" ocurred, me and Yuigahama-san left the room to leave the two fools alone to let out their "social dislikes" towards each other. And when it happened, all we could do was talk to each other. I didn't ever think of wanting to talk to her. Her cheerful and carefree personality is too much for someone like me to tolerate. Of course, whenever we were both locked in a conversation, it was usually because of her. She always told me what she liked to do and we discussed the current case just between us, though whenever I say something related to that topic, it takes at least a few minutes for her understand what I'm saying.

Usually, I was serious on such things and she should as well. I told her this, but when I did, she just laughed it off, smiled, and then said to me, "it's okay, Kazukun, I have a lot of fun doing this, you should too".

Yes, she still calls me by that ridiculous name.

Anyways, these conversations happened sometimes, and when she told me about what happened to Hikigaya-san, I felt that she was connected to it. She mentioned nothing other than Hikigaya-san and the car story. Also, I already knew she had affectionate feelings for Hikigaya-san by just seeing how Yuigahama-san treated Hikigaya-san. She would sometimes act as if she hated everything she did, but she was surprisingly soft towards him after her dumb fits of pounding him for his creepy acts. And oddly, she was the only person who could smile at him.

And deep down, I think Yuigahama-san was the only one who liked Hikigaya-san for who he was. Whether it was only out of gratitude for what she and Hikigaya-san was involved in, or true feelings is something I don't know.

Even the kindest girl in the world wouldn't smile at the grim face of Hikigaya Hachiman.

But, Yuigahama-san was beyond kindest.

At first, I didn't like how she smiled at me because I felt that it was an act, but now, I really don't care if she smiles at me or not.

I'm not going to tell her to not smile at me, because I'm not the kind of person to say such dehumanizing things.

Though, I'm not going to tell her that it means nothing to me when she smiles at me.

That's one exception that I can keep hidden from others.

I do not know what happened between Yuigahama-san and Hikigaya-san, but I'm going to stop myself right here. I will not go into their profiles and try to fix it for them. I may fix, or improve people, but I do not try to improve the past. That is an impossible duty on my scale of skills. All I can do is leave them to their outcome, and I don't know what to hope for. What happens will depend on them. Not me, or Yukinoshita-san. I expect that if Yukinoshita-san knows of this, she won't lift a finger to help them. It's not like us to try to help the past of others that they put their selves in. We will help people improve, but we won't help you with your past problems. For my part, I don't think meant to help in personal things such as family, or love.

So, what I have I concluded from this part of my crappy journal?

Never dwindle in your own past, nor trespass into anyone's.

Despite feeling pity for her, it disgusts me how Yuigahama-san is still conflicted by her past.

I may not know what it is, but it's absolutely sad to see her in such a sad mood with a fake smile on the entire time. She should stop before it causes any permanent damage. Nothing good comes from trying to hang onto your old memories and I have learnt that the hard way, as I always have with my experiences. Moving on is the only thing you can do for Yuigahama-san's case. But, I feel that it may not happen. I fear the worst for her.

I can't go back to the way it was, because moving forward is the only path that's clear to me.

A path that's lonely and nothing, but sad.

Just like me.

* * *

It was a Saturday afternoon, and Kazuka was finished at his time at the nearby fitness gym. He typically went to these during the weekends since it was good to hone himself for the tournament that was going to commence in just 3 weeks. Also, it was good to do something. Kazuka never liked to involve himself in pointless activities such as relaxing at home, or going out to have "fun". He found no pleasure in doing such things, nor any reason to do so. He labeled it as "pointless", finding it also less tolerable.

His sister was all alone in the house, but Kazuka had taught her what to do so many times, she was near perfect of taking care of herself. Knowing this allowed Kazuka to do other important things, without the worry of his sister on his shoulder.

He did many things during the noon and the afternoon, he had to go to the bank in order to check his savings, he needed to buy a few groceries for sustaining himself and his sister, and most of all, he needed to check if he had finished the review on the essay that Yukino had assigned him to, in order to improve some fellow with his grammar and spelling who was in the literature club. If he didn't, she wouldn't ever let it go and all she'd do would torment him about not finishing it.

He stayed up all Friday night to just check everything on it, and the thing was painful to read.

As he went out of he fitness gym, he checked his backpack to ensure that he had everything with him. He heard someone walking close to him, he quickly turned to his right and saw someone awfully familiar. He never did remember anyone that he had seen, but he usually remembered those who he's been with for his entire life. The service club was just an "exception" to him.

He especially remembered family members since it was respectful. But, he was far from respecting his older relatives.

"Hello there, Kazuka." The man said with raspy voice, "It's been a while."

Kazuka only said one word, "Uncle."

In front of him was his uncle, Ujimoto Hideki.

* * *

Despite seeing his uncle again, Kazuka wasn't really excited. It was somewhat nice to see him, but he surely wasn't in the mood to do anything. But his uncle insisted that they went out to restaurant and that he would pay for everything. Kazuka didn't get why he agreed, despite that he wasn't going to even order anything. After his uncle drove him to the restaurant, they both silently sat a table. Both of them haven't talked to each other for at least 4 But, his uncle eventually broke the silence.

"So, how have you and my niece been?" He asked, "I hope you're taking care of her."

"Of course, I am," Kazuka responded, "I'm having no problems either, so you can forget about helping us."

"Heh, you're still a pretty stubborn kid." Hideki chuckled, lighting a cigarette and inhaling it from the other side, "I hope that you would change when I came back in town."

"Trying to change yourself is something I disapprove," Kazuka said, telling him about one of his "philosophies" "I believe that attempting to "change" yourself brings in another different nature in a person, thus losing your own nature, and I believe that makes a hypocrite."

"Tch, what else do y'got?" Hideki asked with sarcasm. "Anyways, I came in town for a reason."

"You did?" Kazuka questioned. "I thought you were working on one of your dumb cases."

"Eh, I'll get to Tokyo later to find those crooks." Hideki threw off the occasion of his job as an inspector, using his time to check on his nephew and niece. Despite being highly blunt, Hideki loved both of them dearly as if he was their biological father. He would have taken them in, but he felt like that it was "stealing" something that meant a lot to his older sibling. "But, let's get back on topic, eh?"

"Of course, just say what you want." Kazuka threw his statement off as if it was nothing.

"Did you hear anything from your ma?" He asked very quickly, throwing Kazuka off-guard.

Kazuka considered any mention of his mother as forbidden. But, his Uncle didn't care, despite knowing this. He felt angry, then more angry, then pissed off. But, as he always was, he would control his emotions as one of his changes. He was not going to be as weak as anyone else, or be "open" to anyone, because there was no reason to be so "open" to others. All it did was made others know about him more, but he didn't want anyone know anything about him. That went for the service club as well. Kazuka gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, but took a deep breath.

"No, I haven't," He growled with hate. "I don't want to hear anything from that woman."

Hideki already knew that he hated his own mother for his own reasons, and Hideki couldn't blame him. It was still her mother, and regardless of whatever she had done, Kazuka had to at least have some kind of love for his mother. But sadly, Hideki already saw that Kazuka hated his mother more than anything else. It was just a typical cycle of pain and hate.

But he had to do something, everything he had done as his Uncle to help Kazuka has been almost nothing.

"Kazuka," Hideki began, "I know that you can't really hate her. You're not that kind of shitty brat."

Kazuka shook his head, with a hateful expression. For Kazuka, he felt that everything wrong that has happened in his life was because of his mother. Everything, from him changing into a unfeeling freak to being where he was, was the cause of his mother committing something only a monster would do. And that was what his mother was to him, a monster.

Kazuka wouldn't hold it down, he admitted that he had some kind of resentment towards his own mother. He admitted that he had problems, but it wasn't something that Kazuka would fix as soon as he could. Things could wait, and Kazuka had much better things to do than fix himself. He took fixing over his life to prepare for the future, rather than himself.

"Well, I'd hate to "change" how you think of me, but yeah, I do really hate her," Kazuka replied. "And from your point, I guess I am that kind of "shitty brat", aren't I?"

Hideki was shocked, he knew that Kazuka was a bit more silent and withdrawn from society after the occurred incidents that followed several years back, but he didn't know that it shook him to this extent. It was much worse than he had predicted. He felt that he couldn't do a single thing anymore. If Kazuka thought this way about his own mother, he was beyond help. Disappointed, Hideki did not reply to his resentful statement, but instead, he left a check in front of Kazuka, which shot up one of Kazuka's eyebrows up. With one last inhale from his cigarette before throwing it in the trash, he sighed.

"I'm giving this for you and your sister," Hideki explained. "just take care of yourself, and her with this. I'll be in town for a week or so, and when I go, I hope you'll think more different in future, Kazuka."

With that, he left the restaurant without anything else. Kazuka looked at the paper and picked it off the table, showing that it had 300,000 yen written on it. As he looked at it, he didn't want to throw it away, but he surely wasn't going to use it. He folded it, and then put it in his pocket. He didn't want to use the money. Kazuka had come far without asking for any loans, and he surely wasn't going to ask for money loans ever in his life. Regardless if it's from his family.

With that, Kazuka left the restaurant. As he went out, he saw that the sun was nearly gone, and with that, he had to get home quick. His younger sister was surely waiting for him to make dinner for her, and he wanted to put her to bed so that he could do some things overnight. He scratched his bushy, choppy brown hair as he looked at the setting sun while walking home.

* * *

As Kazuka woke up, he realized it was Sunday. He hated Sundays. During this day, he has almost nothing to do. Last night, he had finished many of his errands and went to bed quite late. He remembered finishing his work, going up to closet to put on his grey sweatpants and tank top, and passing out on his bed. He checked the time on his wrist watch and saw that it was 11:00AM. He got up, putting on a plain black shirt with a rolled-sleeve flannel shirt, and jeans to look decently proper. His sister most likely had already got of bed, watching one of her shows on the television.

He checked his phone, showing that he was given a text message from someone he had added to his list a while back. Usually, he didn't get much from this person who was a bit older than him, but if he did get one, it must have been something urgent. Kazuka sighed, a little annoyed to be required of just when he had woke up. But, regardless, he was still respectful of the slightly older person who was requiring his help.

Besides, she was one of the few people who he respected, mainly out of pure experiences and judgement from his own views of her. As he was putting his shoes on, and telling his sister to behave himself while he was gone, he checked the text message to make sure where he was going. And to also who to look for.

_"Hi, Kazuka-kun! It's been a while! I was hoping you could help me with something for the Summer Festival. I just feel that you're the right person to talk to, and I think your help would be great! Meet me at the square!"_

He then looked down to see the name. When he did remember who requested this, he cringed. He couldn't understand why he was an "acquaintance" with someone who had 100 times more energy than him. Yet, he still cared to remember her. Staring at the text a little, he read the name with careful pace, sighing as he realized it really was her.

_-Yukinoshita Haruno_

* * *

It was a sunny day, and the temperature was mild. Kazuka walked to Chiba square, taking several minutes getting there. As he got there, he saw Haruno sitting around a table outside of a cafe store. Kazuka walked to her, carefully. Out of everyone he had met, Haruno was the most weirdest and unpredictable girl he had ever met. She was the complete counterpart of Yukino. She was almost like Kazuka, if he never was withdrawn or distanced from society. In Kazuka's heart, he hated seeing her smile and giving him that carefree attitude. It was such a disgusting facade that Kazuka despised the most about Yukinoshita Haruno.

Of course, he knew she was her older sister.

As he walked towards her, Haruno smiled at him, waving at him to come over. Kazuka didn't change his expression or anything, but he still walked towards her, not sure what he was called out for, but all he knew was that he was asked for something about the Summer Festival that was coming around a month or two. He knew he was going have to go, because his sister was ecstatic about going to it, even though it wasn't going to happen for at least 2 months. He walked over, and sat down to the opposite chair of Haruno's. Haruno was excited to see Kazuka again. She didn't see him for a while, and they had both grown up, and changed.

However, Kazuka wasn't excited or anything about seeing Haruno again. All he wanted to do was do what he was requested for, and then leave. He didn't like to sit around and socialize to anyone during his weekend, especially if it was Haruno. To Kazuka, she was always the kind of person to ask many questions, both topic-related and personal.

"Wow, Kazuka-kun, you've grown a lot! You're almost as tall as me!" Haruno complimented beyond exagerration, causing Kazuka to roll his eyes.

"I'm not even that tall.." Kazuka admitted. "..but, whatever. Did you call me for something?"

Haruno nodded, she took out a piece of paper from her purse, including a pen.

"Yep! I called you here to help me with the pickings of the fireworks for the Summer Festival, this year." She said. "I was hoping you could help me with what fireworks should be picked. Father assigned me to this, but I'm unsure myself." Haruno chuckled, rubbing her head.

"Well, that's so-" Kazuka stopped, remembering that she was part of the group conducting the Summer Festival. "Wait, since when does your father participate in these kinds of things? I assumed that it was all economic stuff or whatever."

"Silly! My father's company has always been involved with these things, and he's always done to pickings." She explained. "But, I've never done this, so I was hoping I could get some help from you, because I'm not that good with this."

"Why didn't you just ask your younger sister for help? She's way more brighter than me, in terms of things like this." Kazuka asked, "Besides, sisters should talk to each other about stuff like this."

"Oh, Yukino-chan is a bit busy with the other stuff, dummy." Haruno answered, but Kazuka felt something strange about that response. "Besides, you've always talked about colors symbolizing things, so I came to you."

Kazuka wasn't sure what to say to that, but he was tired and he hated to stretch out the conversation any longer. He sighed, nodding, in order to get the stupid request over with.

"Okay, fine." Kazuka agreed. "What do you need help on?"

"Well, I just need to find which colorful fireworks to pick, and find out what kind of fireworks should be picked."

"Are you serious..?" Kazuka said, with one of his eyelids twitching with disbelief.

"Eh?"

"You're Yukinoshita Haruno, a former honor student, a known inspiration to others during your school years, and one of the daughters to a wealthy family, and to the founder of the Yukinoshita company, and you can't pick fireworks?" Kazuka questioned, confused how she couldn't pick at all. Kazuka's little sister, Harumi could pick the fireworks in just 10 seconds.

"H-Hey! I-I've never done this before, okay? Don't make fun of me!" Haruno blurted out, embarrassed.

"Whatever, let's just hurry up." Kazuka said. "Anyways, what did you think of?"

"Well, I picked the flashy ones, and the colored ones like light green and orange.." Haruno told him.

"Hm, you are right, you are bad at this.." Kazuka agreed with her earlier statement.

"Hey, that's why I called you." Haruno replied, giggling. He hated it whenever she laughed for no reason.

"Well, let's start.." Kazuka went back on topic. "First, you shouldn't pick flashy ones. People aren't there for a firework fashion show. Lots of people like things that blow big, so get the ones that blow big and show lots of things. It's a quantity over quality thing, but for this, I don't think people mind."

"Hm.. okay." Haruno agreed to it since it sounded good, and she wrote down what he had said.

"And for your colors, do something that represents the Summer Festival. Don't pick any random, dumb colors like "light green". Kazuka told her to avoid such things. "Usually, you want to pick bright, positive colors like, red, yellow, and blue. Red is known to symbolize happiness in our country, yellow symbolizes joy, and summer as well, and blue symbolizes peace, and tranquility. Those are about all things that Japan has, right?"

"Wow, okay. Thank you for helping me, Kazuka-kun! That should be about it!" Haruno finished.

"Don't mention it. Now, goodbye." Kazuka was about to go, but he was stopped by Haruno.

"Wait a second, Kazuka-kun," She halted, "Could I ask you something?"

Kazuka sighed, "What?"

"Have you been with Yukino-chan? I know we haven't seen each other for a year or so, but I feel like you've look a bit happier than back then."

"Oh dear, this never goes well.." Kazuka muttered. "So, what if? I'm surely not more bright, because of Yukinoshita. Why would you say so?"

"Because, I went to Yukino-chan's place a few weeks ago, and she was in a better mood than usual." Haruno answered. "She talked a little bit about you, you know. I think she misses you."

Kazuka scoffed, he felt it was the latter. Yukino was the kind of person to not gossip about anyone. But, why him? It was the dumbest thing he had heard Yukino do. And she was never stupid, or anything. Besides, out of everyone, why talk about him? He was nothing special, other than knowing her for many years. If she was still holding him to those years, he'd just hate her more. He surely was not her friend, he wasn't as perspective as Hachiman, nor was he as cheerful as Yui, so he was wondering if Haruno was lying.

"Uh, no. I'm sure whatever she said was mostly an insulting statement to try to "identify" my problems." Kazuka threw off her statement as a lie, saying what Yukino would typically say to him about every day. "To be honest, your sister isn't the kind person to "miss" people. It just isn't in her nature, and you know her well."

"Maybe you're right.." Haruno started, "But, I'm just here to ask you something else."

"Hurry it up," Kazuka hurried. "I'm in a hurry, and talking about your sister is something I'd talk about most negatively."

"Just be nice to her, okay?" Haruno requested. "I know what happened to you and her, but don't hate her or anything. Yukino-chan's a frail girl, and she just needs someone to go to when she's in trouble. She doesn't show it, but she's very lonely." She had a fragile smile at the end, but Kazuka still understood what she was trying to say, but he couldn't bring himself to do such a thing. He was not going to succumb to being a fake, in order to make Yukino feel better. Besides, to Kazuka, it looked like she didn't care about feeling happy or anything. Yukino was a driven girl, bent on changing people, including the world itself.

Kazuka always remind himself that even though he hated her, he couldn't deny that he respected her for what she was doing.

"Kazuka-kun," Haruno called, "You don't hate her, do you?"

Kazuka didn't say anything, but he nodded. Haruno gave him another frail smile, not sure if it was response to helping her sister, or the realization that he may hate her. Though, Kazuka only nodded to ensure that he could prevent the talk from going any further. He wasn't sure what drove Haruno to talk about him and Yukino, but it was something that nagged Kazuka for the entire day. He couldn't get his mind off it.

As he got home, he sat in front of his desk, checking if he finished all of his things last night. His sister was still watching her shows on the television, so he didn't have to worry about her. As he finished, an image of Yukino popped into his head, and another one of Haruno telling him to be "nice" to her.

He felt disgusted when he thought about such things. It went against everything he had promised himself. Why did he care so? He didn't hold such memories with cherishing feelings. When Kazuka realized how vulgar it was to think about such a cold, emotionless person, it made his teeth grit together and made his hands clench. Was he feeling this because he was beginning to soften up to some kind of girl like Yukino? Should he be happy or angry? He wasn't sure, thus, overthinking caused him to deny what he truly felt.

As it was nighttime, something came out of his own mouth, replying to something that Haruno had said to him in the noon. He was still sitting on his desk chair, and his sister had gone to bed. Kazuka sighed, with a neutral expression on face and his hand on his forehead.

_"Kazuka-kun, you don't hate her, do you?"_

He took an hour to think about that question, before telling himself an answer.

"..I don't know.."

* * *

**A/N: Ah, damn, still to dang slow. I'm trying to lower the amount of rabble in the texts, but hey, I gotta make a plot up somehow! Each arc is about 4 chapters or so, so it shouldn't be THAT long. I'm trying to get to the climax as soon as I can, so that you can understand about the MC a bit more, and why he's such a "petty" loner. (lol)**

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed this! This had pretty nice touches to it anyways, so that should be enough for now. :P**

**P.S. Yeah, I'm questioning myself if I got Haruno's personality right, XD.**

**And please, PM any grammar or spelling problems to me in the texts. I would really appreciate it!**


	6. Burden

**A/N: Some timelines might have been changed, so just keep that in mind.**

**Chapter Six: Burden**

The time of June was quite chaotic. Both Hikigaya-san and Yuigahama-san were in a "dispute", by what Yukinoshita quotes, and I hear it was quite bad. Now, she isn't coming to the club anymore. I knew it was going to get very bad before it could stop, I knew there was something between those two that meshed together so perfectly. I admit, Hikigaya-san could have gotten Yuigahama-san to fall for him, but for some reason, but I knew how he was, Hikigaya-san was not like that, in fact, I think this was a good thing. I believe that Yuigahama-san only joined the club out of grief, and that was out of the guilt that came from that incident or whatever it was. I don't know what Hikigaya-san had said, but whatever it did, it freed her of her debt to him, and somehow, it gave back Hikigaya-san's tranquil mind.

Just because I'm writing this, doesn't mean I will talk to them about it. I had said earlier, it is not right to involve myself in the affairs of others. But, now, even if I did want to, it is now beyond my skill of social assistance to help the two. They will both have to talk to each other about, and what happens is up to them. I commend Yuigahama-san for coming this far though, with her kind of personality, anyone wouldn't have made it that far, but Yuigahama-san did and in return, helped us, even if it was minimal, I can still thank her for being with us this far.

As I write this now in class, I'm still wondering on what to give her for Yuigahama-san's birthday. Yukinoshita told me yesterday, that her birthday was June 18. Currently, it's June 16. It isn't like me to give someone a gift, but out of gratitude, and experience with her, I will only do this once. Besides, if I'm the only one who doesn't give her a gift, I'll look like a completely evil person for being the only one not giving her a present, and I'll be showered by insults by both of those two creeps, and to be honest, I am never in the mood to hear their "stupid rants".

Not only I had to worry about this problem, I had personal problems as well.

If I am correct, I achieved second place in the tournament, just after some Korean martial artist. Though in the process of getting that far, I was stupid enough to injure my shoulder and get a few bruises on my face, which are covered by bandage patches. I hated how I looked like. Not only that, all of my classmates decided it was right to make fun of me about getting hurt, and they called me, I quote, a "dumbass" for getting hurt in the first place and told me that I deserved it.

If I told why about half of the school hates me, it would take too long to explain, and I'd have to be writing this for two weeks straight.

It intrigues me how people can hate you over the stupidest things, it's sad.

But, I've gotten used to be called rude names for a while now, so I don't care anymore.

Though, only thing is, the rumors about me have only spread to my class, class 2-C, and 2-B, including another few. I wonder how long my existence will stay there, until everyone hears about me.

And trust me, what people say about me is quite exaggerating. But, it's somewhat true.

That alone, is pitiful.

For me, it is unknown if Yuigahama-san will ever come back. There is no guarantee that she may come back. If she won't, well, that's just one member we'll have to forget about. I knew that there would be a bad situation between Hikigaya-san and Yuigahama-san, but I never foresaw this. I never knew it would escalate to the point where Yuigahama-san would leave, because she was given the realization that she only joined because she felt in debt to Hikigaya-san. I haven't confirmed it myself, but if that's why she really joined, then all the "relationships" she had established from the start have been for nothing. In other words, if she joined out of grief, she shouldn't have ever had joined in the first place.

Forced, I have decided to go to the mall with both Yukinoshita and Hikigaya-san during the day when we don't have school. To go "shopping" for things. I truly hate doing things like these. I find no satisfaction in meddling with useless goods, and tampering with clothing the entire day. It sounds extremely tiring to me, and I never do want to go into malls. But, this is just tiring for me. I'm quite sure Yukinoshita was smirking devilishly at me, seeing how malls were something I hated the most, she felt it was a creative way to torment me.

One of these days, I'll get her back. I swear it on my life..

Even though Yuigahama-san can be too soft towards people, and that she oddly smiles in bad situations, and she's too much of a timid girl to express her true feelings towards people, including her friends, there's one thing that none of us, including me won't ever have.

Her kindness, a facade or not, is something that can't be matched.

It's something Yukinoshita, a blunt, haughty girl doesn't have.

It's something Hikigaya-san, a apathetic, rotten fool will surely never understand.

It's something that me, a hated, isolated, and pitiful human being will never achieve, nor understand.

Because for me, what I hate about Yuigahama-san that most, is her unmatched kindness.

I will never understand it as long as I live.

Because, I believe that Yuigahama-san's kindness only exists because she hasn't felt the mental pain that every person feels when they fail to face the reality of their inevitable outcome. Thus, she will never understand how I feel, nor will anyone else understand.

If I could leave the club in her place, I would. It'd spare me the misery.

* * *

It was the day before the group was going to the mall, and it was near sunset. Everyone in the club at that time, was talking about what to give Yui for when her birthday was coming. Hachiman insisted on getting things that looked cute and really dumb. As harsh as it sounded, the other two agreed to it. As they were about finished discussing, somebody came into the room, someone they didn't know. It was some girl who they all hadn't seen before. She had blue eyes, and purple hair. It was a little creepy.

"E-Excuse me, is this the Service club?" She asked.

Yukino stood up from her chair.

"Yes, it is." Yukino confirmed. "Are you here for something?"

"Y-Yes, I heard from Shizuka-sensei that this club.. was taking requests?" The girl stuttered.

Kazuka looked at Hachiman, wondering if he knew who this girl was.

"Do you know who she is?"

Hachiman scoffed, "No, I've never been allowed to be familiar with girls, so don't look at me."

This brought up a bitter memory in Hachiman's mind that caused him to cringe and bury his face in his left hand. Kazuka sighed. He hated whenever this had happened. He either had to say something to Hachiman, or he would be in that position for a while.

"Hey, I told you to stop acting like this in front of the clients." Kazuka growled.

"Did I ask you for advice?" Hachiman responded. "If you can have your typical growls, then I can still have my privacy."

Shrugging off Hachiman's statement, Kazuka inspected the girl, until realizing that she looked awfully like someone he had seen before. He could swear he knew someone that looked like this girl, but she was a bit more shorter, and it appeared that she had cut her hair to a short length. Kazuka put himself in a moment of thought, before snapping his fingers, and pointing at the girl.

"You, do you have some sibling or something that comes to this school?" Kazuka asked. The girl gasped, grinning at him, though she didn't actually reply to Kazuka.

"Hey, I know you!" She yelled.

"You do? Well, I don't." He replied.

Yukino soon broke off the conversation, wanting to get back to the request.

"You are here to request something, yes?" Yukino reminded. "What is your name?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." The girl apologized. "My name's Mikoto Naoko. I'm a first-year student here.."

_"Mikoto?"_ Kazuka muttered. Hachiman shot a questioning glare at him.

"Well, what is your request, Mikoto-san?" Yukino said.

"It's a bit long, but.." Naoko began. "I haven't been able to do so well in school, because there's a few problems between me and my twin sister. I was hoping this club could help me on my relationship with her."

_"Our second family-related case, huh?" _Kazuka thought.

"Hm, family problems, they are all existent in every family. It's no surprise." Yukino inspected from what she heard. "We can help you, but we will only help you improve your relationship. After we've helped you enough, what happens next depends on you."

"I'm not sure if this is something that we are assigned to-" Kazuka was cut off by Yukino's voice speaking again.

"Mikoto-san is a student here, correct?" Yukino reminded. "This falls perfectly into the duties of the club, as our duties involve the students themselves. I thought you already knew, but I assume that you were too narrow-minded to listen."

"You must like to mix every statement with a hint of insults in it. It's getting old." Kazuka responded.

"Looks like we'll have to forget "going out" to go get stuff for Yuigahama's birthday, then." Hachiman commented.

Kazuka realized that this was his chance to get out of this dreadful event. He hated to go to malls and walk around for what seemed like an eternity. For him, the job was much better than going to a mall with two other people who were against his existence. Yukino, at this time as well, was a bit hesitant, unsure whether to commit to starting another case, or sticking to their original plan to thank Yui for being with them.

_"No, you won't at least." _Kazuka whispered near him.

"Quit whispering to me, you're creepy as hell.." Hachiman insulted.

Kazuka stood up from his chair, receiving looks from everyone. He wasn't going to let this past. It was the perfect time to get him out of something he really wasn't looking forward to. For this moment, he would rather take the job, even if that means he would have to work on it by himself. Besides, Kazuka had always done well by himself in his earlier years. If that was true, he could do this job with no problems. But, Kazuka felt that he was being a bit selfish, as he also wanted to take this in order to show that he was doing just as much as everyone. After finishing the job with Totsuka Saika, it appeared that Hachiman was apparently the reason behind all of the resolutions of all of their jobs from spring to summer.

He wasn't sure why he felt so negative whenever he thought about that. Perhaps it was just because he was in a bad mood as always? Was it just something that he hated about Hachiman? He wasn't sure.

But, he felt so useless.

So very useless.

Kazuka didn't feel like a member there at all, despite knowing that he assisted the team greatly in all of the duties he's been in, and because of him, they managed to solve their cases quicker than usual as they progressed.

Was he jealous? Kazuka occasionally asked himself this, and was angry at himself whenever he did. He couldn't believe he was being all angry over not contributing to the club as much as he wanted. He couldn't believe that he was giving in to emotions that didn't match with him. Was he turning into something he's hated his entire life?

Worst of all, why did he care so much? Why was he caring so much for the club itself? What was going on? Kazuka couldn't answer everything that was popping into his mind at the same time.

Throwing aside these grueling thoughts, he quickly returned back to reality, about to announce that he was willing to take the case himself. As he was standing up from his chair, he said his declaration of commitment.

"I'll do this case by myself." Kazuka declared. "Just leave the rest to me."

Yukino, including Hachiman were confused and a little surprised of what had just come out of Kazuka's mouth.

"I would not recommend take this on your own, Ujimoto-san." Yukino warned. "You've never done one by yourself, so I doubt you can handle it. Don't be stupid."

"I'm only doing this because you, and Hikigaya-san have something important to do." Kazuka lied, hiding his true reasons. "Besides, I don't have much part in this mall thing, so both of you should go. I'll have this done by tomorrow in time for June 18."

"Are you an idiot? You can't do cases that quick, and it usually takes us a few days to even complete one." Hachiman said, causing Kazuka to turn his head to him. "You're basically saying "I want to take this so that I know that I can contribute as much". You're just being stupidly arrogant."

_"How did he..?"_

"You say one thing after another, and they're all just some kind of stupid hypothesis." Kazuka replied. "You shouldn't really judge someone who you don't know very well."

"I don't have to know you and I don't want to, but I can already tell you won't finish as quick as you want to. You're just biting off more than you can chew." Hachiman retorted.

Kazuka was getting really irritated, and Hachiman was good at doing that. He disliked the rotten attitude of the loner in front of him, as Hachiman usually went against almost every single thing that Kazuka recommended or believed in. Though, Kazuka knew it wasn't the time to scream insults towards Hachiman, and concentrated on the job that he was going to take personally. He turned back to Yukino, requesting permission from her. Kazuka was bent on doing this for showing himself that he was just as essential as Hachiman and Yukino. He was not going to fall behind those two.

Even if he had to make a deal with the lady-devil.

"Are you going to let me do this, or not?" Kazuka asked, sighing before sealing his fate. "If I can't finish this as soon as I said.. then.. I'll do what you want for day. Deal?"

Yukino wasn't sure if it was a good idea if it was fine to let Kazuka take the duty himself. If he were to fail, she wasn't sure how she'd react to it, but it she knew that it would be a bad mark on the club itself, seeing how they've managed to complete all of their jobs with somewhat "positive" outcomes. But, at the same time, they were also trying to prevent Yui from leaving the club, as they wouldn't want to find any other student to replace, and finding someone that either thought like Yui, or someone like Kazuka, Hachiman, or even Yukino, would be a difficult thing to search for.

However, she liked the idea of being in charge of ordering Kazuka around for a day. It would be amusing, and quite funny to see someone that dislikes her as much as he disliked societies ideas and it's social institutions, be under her order for a day.

Basically, Kazuka hated her with a passion, and Yukino returned this.

Though, this is what Yukino came to believe.

Hachiman simply growled in a way of ominous concern. He knew that if Kazuka failed to accomplish the case, or fail the client's expectations, he'd be in torment and anguish for 24 hours, having to listen and obey to Yukino without question for an entire school day, and Kazuka usually objected against everything that Yukino said in their cases. He knew it was not going to be pretty, nor very fun to watch Kazuka be controlled by an ice-cold beauty that disliked him with a passion. Also, he didn't interfere with either Kazuka or Yukino about this sick deal, because the only thing that would happen is that he'd be told by Kazuka and Yukino at the same time, to "shut up", which happened whenever he did interfere with something.

"Hm, I see.." Yukino thought about the tempting deal, slowly with a dark smile, causing Kazuka to cringe. "Then I will leave the rest to you, Ujimoto-san."

With that Yukino took her bag and left without a word. Hachiman sighed out of disgust from the "stupidity" of Kazuka's choice. Hachiman was surely not going to help him, if the worst should happen. The moment he saw Yukino smile in that sly way that she usually did, it was all over for him.

"If you care so much, I guess it's all on you, Ujimoto." Hachiman whispered. "Don't expect me to give you advice on this."

"I wasn't planning on it."

Hachiman left as well, leaving him and the client, Mikoto Naoko alone. As soon as the two had left, Kazuka was bent on working with her right away. As he approached her, he asked if he could see her sister. Without question, she agreed, explaining her sister's name was Mikoto Naoki. Before he went, he called his sister, Harumi, asking her if she was fine at home. His sister replied, saying that she was at home and all right, despite being a little saddened by Kazuka's announcement about getting home late.

Harumi was a little sad about her brother not being by her as much as usual, it made her feel a little neglected, but with her carefree attitude, she was strong and always had a smile on her face, not wanting to spread her sadness to her brother.

As both Kazuka and Naoko walked to her home, she explained everything about Naoki, how everything was going with her and her older sister, and how she was like. Though, despite not saying anything, Kazuka already knew about almost everything about Naoki.

Because he and Naoki were in the same class, 2-D, and sadly, Naoki was one of the "popular" and "superior" girls that Kazuka called out and insulted, due to his hatred for pompous girls like her who acted like they were the queens of the world. But, all that did was make people hate him more, and Naoki saw him as a someone out to destroy her popular ego, and thus, saw to, what other girls like her wanted, bring him down, if it was either by vilifying him or bullying him to the brink of depression, anything that would make him feel regretful of messing with people more socially powerful than him was good.

Kazuka knew that he was going to have to do his best to help one of the students that hated him the most, and he was going to have to constrain himself as well since he needed to complete this or he'd be in two bad situations because of one case, being the cause of the club's first failed case, and being under the control of Yukinoshita Yukino.

* * *

As Kazuka got to Naoko's house, he was soon seen by one of his most hateful "fans", Mikoto Naoki. As the girl saw him, she had a evil look on her face, confused and disgusted by seeing her "nemesis" at her house. Naoki had a brown sweater on, with shorts, and had purple hair, but it was much longer than her younger sister's.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Naoki growled.

"Oh, so I was right, you were her sister, but I got nothing to really say.." Kazuka responded, not shaken by her growling. "I came on behalf of your sister."

"Naoko! What's wrong with you! Bringing this.. guy in!" Naoki yelled.

Naoko didn't speak back. Instead, she had her head down with a frown on her face. The pieces of the real problem were beginning to come together in Kazuka's mind, trying to find some kind of conclusion with what he was beginning to notice, but he didn't get anything yet, not until he found something significant

"Anyways, this isn't how you treat your guests do you?" Kazuka questioned. "I think you should be polite enough to give me something to drink, don't you think?"

"You freaking-"

"All right, then, I'll go get us some!" Naoko blubbered out. "Just go sit on our couch, Ujimoto-kun."

Kazuka nodded in response, and walked to their living room. Naoki gritted her teeth, following him in case if he did anything funny.

It appeared that the house had two couches. Both white, clean couches were facing opposite from each other on the sides of the television. Kazuka sat on one of them, while Naoki sat across him, giving him a sharp look. Kazuka, who was being irritated by her nasty look, decided to talk.

"All right then, I'm going to be honest." Kazuka spilled, receiving a confused look from Naoki. "Your sister brought me here to help your relationship with her. From what I see, your sister seems quite conflicted because of you. Want to say anything, or not?"

Naoki had a annoyed expression. She felt insulted since it sounded like Kazuka was telling her to get help, and that angered her more with knowing that she was hearing it from someone she hated.

"God, if that's all you came here for, you really are a freak." She insulted.

"Are you going to answer my question? Spare me the insults and answer me."

"What do you want me to say? That my frail, weak younger sister should get some help and I should be more nicer?"

"Well, actually- Wait, frail? Weak?" Kazuka's eye went from uncaring, to amusing. It looked like he **could** probably get something from this pompous witch. "What do you mean?"

"Tch, she hasn't told you?" Naoki said, surprised. "She's so damn sad. Naoko cries for no reason, she always smile at bad times, even when our dad is in the hospital right now. It's so damn annoying and it pisses me off. She laughs at weird times, always clings to me, and can't even stand up for herself whenever I'm not there. I don't know why she's so frail, but I just wish it stops."

"You're so straightforward, it's weird."

"Shut up, you dumbass."

Despite shrugging off her insult, Kazuka realized that their relationship was not the problem, it was Naoko herself. She had no kind of self-confidence whatsoever and was filled with self-doubt, and neglect from her sister, and the mental pain of her father in hospitalization. Not only was she lonely, she lacked the strength to help herself, and her weakness was causing others to dislike her.

Despite asking to "help" the relationship between her and her older sister, in truth, Naoko really just wanted to find acknowledgement from her own sister.

Kazuka knew he had to find a way to help her with her personality problem, break through her facade of her carefree-like personality, including her true depressed state, and help her find a way to make her more "likable" to her sister.

To Kazuka, neglect was simply something that happened to children, but it also happened to those who were depressed as well. He liked to call it "child paranoia neglect syndrome", something that happened whenever a person **thought** they were being neglected, but it was just their depression and paranoia that was causing it. From pure experience, he felt that same thing, but managed to get through it himself.

He knew that Naoki didn't hate her own sister. It was impossible for one sibling to hate the other. To Kazuka, the bond between two siblings was the strongest possible bond, even more than parent and child. Kazuka concluded that Naoki just hated how Naoko wasn't independent and timid, not because it was Naoko herself.

The solution: Naoko would have to "change" herself.

"I think I've got what I needed." Kazuka stood up, about to leave. "I thank you for spilling it out."

"You better not tell anyone about it, otherwise I'll get you."

"What would I benefit from trying to downgrade you by telling everyone how you feel about you sister? I see no pleasure in that at all." Kazuka replied. "I expect to change your sister to your liking if you want it so badly. If you should know, she wishes to change herself for your sake, you know."

"Wait a second, I-"

"I got nothing else to say to you, other than speak to her." Kazuka cut her off, putting his shoes on and leaving the house with his backpack on. "I apologize for intruding into your home and thank you for your time."

Naoko gritted her teeth, looking away from him as he left her house in the blue night. She couldn't understand why he cared so much about her sister's well-being, and trying to help her. Kazuka, on the other hand, couldn't understand why Naoko wasn't bright enough to see this problem, despite knowing that she was a bitch to him, she was quite smart in class.

If there was one thing that Kazuka understood, it was family.

It was the only topic and thing that Kazuka took to his heart to.

* * *

The next day, it was the day off, and Kazuka called Naoko on his phone since he was given her phone number to call her about anything useful to tell her. He told her to meet him at a certain street in the morning, and Naoko ran there, despite that the sun was barely up. As she got there, she saw him laying his back against a fence. Kazuka saw her and pushing himself forward to get himself off the wall.

"You came." Kazuka said.

"Of course, did you call me to say something?" Naoko gave him a questioning look, causing Kazuka to nod to her.

"I did, and I've found the solution to help you improve your relationship."

"You did? What is it?" She asked, excited.

"Change."

"What?"

"You heard me." Kazuka clarified. "You shouldn't think that your sister hates you. When it comes to sisters, they can't hate each other, no matter how much you want to. In Naoki's heart, I'm quite sure there's a small piece of her that loves you dearly. But.."

"What is it?"

"She hates how you are. The only way to fix that is to change your flaws."

"Is that all? B-But, you're just guessing!" Naoko denied his conclusion.

"Maybe, but it fits quite well, does it not?" Kazuka told her. "She told me about your father, and everything about you. I can't help but pity you."

"Don't. You.. you wouldn't understand.. I just want her to notice me, but I don't even know if she loves me anymore.."

"I know what it feels like, Mikoto-san." Kazuka responded. "The only difference between you and me, is that I don't really have anything left. But, I still have my sister, you see. Siblings are the kind of things that keep you moving, they're kind of like a lifeline and the thing that truly understands you. If you sister hated you, she wouldn't cared a single bit about you. Back there, she was concerned for you when she saw me near you. She was **worried **about you. So don't say that she doesn't love you."

Naoko had shocked face of realization. She was being so stupid, worrying over such a thing that she exaggerated over. Everything was her fault, and she felt very ashamed of herself. She looked at Kazuka with a frown, unsure what do next.

"Ujimoto-kun." She called his name. "Wh-What should I do I do next..? I.. I don't know what to do next." Tears began to stream down her face.

"..." Kazuka didn't saying anything for a few seconds, not having any expression to react to her crying. "I don't know what you **should** do. But, what you can do is change for the better good of those you love. Keep your head up for the ones you wish to be acknowledged by, and be the change you wish your sister to see. More importantly, believe in who you are and quit relying on others, it's truly upsetting and even makes me sick." Kazuka was telling her everything, but he didn't sound comforting at all. He said everything in a monotone voice.

With that Kazuka was leaving, walking aside her. With tears still on her face, Kazuka said one more thing.

"Quit crying as well, all it shows is your frailty." Kazuka advised, and looked back at her. "You have actually have a future, Mikoto-san. You better make good use of it."

With that Kazuka left, leaving Naoko by herself, closing his case. Kazuka knew that he did a good job on it, able to find the true problem. The problem was not within the sisters, but rather within Naoko herself, as her confidence problem was stemmed from her habit on trying to make her situations better, rather than fix them. Her own frail heart was the cause of her thinking that her sister didn't love her, thus, her own paranoia caused her to believe that she was being neglected by her sister.

But in a way, Kazuka managed to get rid of it, by showing her the way to be a stronger, more independent person.

Thus, this conclusion brought a successful end to Kazuka's own case that he took on by himself.

Though, this made Kazuka realized that even though he may be able to help people improve themselves, he may never be able to help himself.

* * *

In the afternoon, Kazuka reported his case to the others, as he was able to find the true problem within her request. Despite that Yukino was a bit disappointed since she was looking forward to having control over someone that disagreed with most of her ideas, but regardless, she didn't say much to Kazuka's completion and only said that causing Naoko to change was fine, but it could cause her to change her attitude for the worst. Yukino and Hachiman rebuked him for his failure to see this, but nonetheless, the case was a success, with the outcome causing Naoko to change herself by giving her the courage to give her self-confidence and independence, thus erasing her thoughts of false neglect.

Kazuka was wrapping up the case, so he couldn't stay for long since he had to go check on his client to see how big an impact his words did to Naoko. He left before they all could go and give their presents to Yui. Though, as he walked through the orange sunshine halls, he bumped into Yui, who was apparently going to the club room to set things up, as she couldn't hold her ignorance any longer towards Hachiman, even despite what happened to both of them.

"Oh, Kazukun.." Yui muttered.

"Yuigahama-san." Kazuka responded, nonchalantly. It was awkwardly silent before Yui nervously laughed and rubbed the back of her head.

"I-I wasn't going to the room or anything! I just came here b-because I left something and.." Yui soon stopped, realizing it was futile to lie to Kazuka. He obviously saw through her lie.

"I hear that you may be leaving."

"..." Yui didn't say anything.

"I won't do anything to change your mind since that's not how I am." Kazuka said. "But, I just want to say that I appreciated your contribution to the club, and here, today is your birthday, correct?" Kazuka gave her a small flat squared-stone that had the kanji word for "honor". It had a short string that was used to be wore around the wrist. Yui was curious of what this was.

"Kazukun, what's this? I know that it's something I put around my wrist, but is this yours?" She asked.

"Hm? Yes, it is. One of my family heirloom items that's been past down to me. It's always been in my family for many generations, but I've decided to give it to you."

"Wow, thank you." Yui thanked, but soon wanted to give it back to him since she heard that it was a family heirloom. "But, th-this is important to you. I couldn't take-"

"Just take it, this isn't how someone reacts to a birthday present." Kazuka cut her off. "So, are you leaving?"

"..I don't know yet." Yui said. "I-I heard about what you did, Kazukun. I knew you were a very kind person."

"Don't call me that.." Kazuka muttered, looking down for a moment before his eyes cocked up again. "Anyways, I just wanted to say that regardless of what you decide, I will still respect you for what you have done so far. It is the least I can do, and I gave you my wrist heirloom to show my gratitude. For me, it is respectful to express my gratitude for those who deserve my respect."

"Kazukun.." Yui was astonished by his statement. "I.. I just.."

"Stop talking to me like that now. You shouldn't be trying to talk with me with your own problem." Kazuka's mood changed immediately. "Go. Hikigaya-san and Yukinoshita-san are waiting for you."

"Why aren't you staying, Kazukun?" Yui asked.

"Something has come up, and besides.. I have no part in this." Kazuka replied.

With that, he walked past Yui, who had a conflicted look on her face. Yui took Kazuka's words to her heart as she always had, but she couldn't help but feel sad for him. Yui wasn't the first to notice something, but she was able to notice that despaired look on Kazuka's face when she called him "kind". Was there something wrong with him? Yui knew that she didn't know anything about Kazuka's personal life since he never talked about it.

That's when she realized that **no one **in the club knew anything about him.

Hachiman and Yukino obviously, never cared to.

Kazuka was a mysterious member.

Kazuka always looked miserable.

He was never in a good mood where he could be smiling out of happiness.

Risking of overthinking the expression that she had saw, Yui quickly threw off her concern about Kazuka and continued to the club room to set things equally with the others. Kazuka, alone as usual, went home. Even though Kazuka had given her a gift, he couldn't help but feel guilty to throw his burden to her. Kazuka really hated having that heirloom, never being able to throw it away or keep with him at all times. It was tearing him to pieces of just knowing he had it.

It was selfish of him, giving Yui something that appeared to be a gift, was only a burden to him in the first place.

Whenever he tried to forget about it, it only made him think about it more.

All it did was give him bad memories.

It was the only thing he obtained to remember his family by.

It made him miserable.

That stupid string bracelet showed him how lonely he truly was.

But, for some reason, Kazuka wasn't feeling any better with the bracelet gone.

What was going on?

* * *

**A/N:**

**That ending. It sounds awfully iffy, but I can't seem to put my finger on it. (/)-_-) *Itch***

**I'm not sure.**

**Anyways, I hope I did fine on this chapter.. I had to give Kazuka his own case to make his story go forward, and try to relate himself to his cases as I want to concentrate on him and his family and try to push it with cases that have similar problems to his own, but the process is extremely slow. I'm beginning to get a bit impatient.**

**Please, and please, oh, please.. PM me any errors within the text. :3**


	7. Past (PART 1)

**Sorry, this one is gonna be kinda short. Around 2000 to 3000 words, but I'm sure the next chapter'll be way longer since this chapter is an important one to the series. :)**

**Note: Please be noted that this chapter concentrates on the canon character's view, rather than Kazuka's view. That's right, this chapter is all on the characters now. Let's take a break from Kazuka, folks.**

**Chapter Seven: Past (PART 1)**

Yesterday, after the problem with Yuigahama-san was done and out of the way, I took a rest for the weekend. I had nothing important to do, and when I didn't have anything to do, I just rested. With Yukinoshita "hollering" at me to check if all of our activities were finished during Friday, I was quite in a bad mood, and just wanted to sleep. I'm so tired, I couldn't make anything for Harumi to eat, which I apologized for.

It's the final week before summer break and the club was wrapping our duties up for the summer break, and I will admit, I was looking forward to it. If it gave me two months off from hearing everyone insult me constantly, and giving me giant migraines in the morning, I'd take it as quick as anything else in the world. As of now, it's Thursday, and everyone is extremely eager for summer break. Probably because they'll be able to continue with their social lies and hypocrite-like status' without me pointing them out.

Not that I care or anything.

With everything going according to plan, next year is my final year. With this, I should be able to plan my future a bit more without any problems. I also managed to get the top marks in my class. Fujiwara-sensei was surprised and said that I should be in one of those honor classes. When she said that, I didn't say anything and gave her a disgusted look, which she "punished" me by including why I gave her that look in my 1000-word paper that all students were supposed to write to explain what they were going to do for their third year.

Why she included "why I gave her that look", I don't want to know, but what caught my eye was to explain what I was going to do about my third year. I wasn't sure how it was going to be any different, so all I wrote down was long paragraphs of how it was going to be the same thing, except that I would graduate from High school and get into a job career. Also, I putted down that I gave her that look because she praised me to such a point where I had to hate her for it.

I just need to wait for Friday, and this chaos will stop for two months. I don't really want to do anything right now.

Well, that's all I'm going to write down now. Class is about finished now, and I got to head to the club now. I have nothing big to say as of now, and I really don't want to be involved in anything big as well.

I'm so tired, I just want to go home.

I need some rest.

* * *

It was Friday, the final day before summer break. Hachiman and Kazuka decided to leave early, as there was no cases at the moment and also the fact that it was the last day. Yukino cursed both of them in a muttered tone as they both walked out of the room. With both of them gone for three months, there wasn't going to be anything big for them. Also, with them gone, it had left her with Yui. The room was quite silent without the two boys. As Yui was rabbling to Yukino about random topics about what they she was going to do for her summer break, someone knocked on the door and came into the room. Yui and Yukino wondered who it this female was who was wearing a two-piece suit.

"Hello, who are you?" Yukino asked.

"Oh right, Kazuka probably hasn't mentioned me to you. That kid is such a weirdo." The woman said, mentioning Kazuka. "I'm Onami Fujiwara, the teacher for class 2-D and Ujimoto Kazuka's teacher."

"You're his teacher, Onami-sensei?" Yui questioned.

"Yeah, been so ever since he came here." She replied. "Anyways, I heard he came here after school, is he still in the school?"

"No, that fool left. I should have stopped him before he left." Yukino answered, receiving a laugh from Onami.

"Heh, I have to agree with what you call him." Onami agreed. "Well, I came here on behalf of Hiratsuka to request one more thing before you guys go. Will you accept?"

"Of course." Yukino accepted, nonchalantly.

"Eh? Yukinon, are you sure that-"

"I quite am. The club will always accept requests, regardless if we are to come here everyday or not." Yukino reminded.

"Good to hear. Now, read this, this essay was written by Kazuka on Thursday. I don't know about you, but I'm a bit concerned about him." Onami gave them a copy of an essay made by Kazuka. It was rather odd, as Hachiman was usually the only one who wrote essays they knew about, but it looked like everyone in the school was being forced to write a grueling essay about their resolutions as Yui remembered that she had to write one as well, and it took her a while.

As the two girls read the essay, it was firstly a bit annoying and practical, as Kazuka explained about things he wasn't going to do for his third year and just wrote down a bunch of things about looking towards the future and a bit about why he gave that ugly look to his teacher. It didn't seem so bad, and both were getting confused on why they were reading such a negative and pointless essay.

Then, after a few paragraphs, it began to get really serious. And personal.

It was odd. Kazuka was never an open person, but it appeared that he leaked out a bit of his own personal information because he must have lost his topic when he was writing the essay.

_...I don't think that I have time to make time to savor my final year and try to have "fun". With my own life, I already have to support own self. Is it too much to ask to be left alone? If it is, then I'd should have never come here at the first place. My own life isn't full of "fun", and it would be stupid to make it so. If no one can understand it, no one ever will. Also, quit making me do more work by answering dumb questions. It's obvious why I gave you that look._

_I have nothing else to write about, so this ends my essay._

"Kazukun.." Yui muttered, worried.

"Are you sure this is Ujimoto-san? He surely is not open, and he never is." Yukino questioned.

"True, but.. have you noticed him acting differently?" Onami asked. "Usually, he's always indifferent and usually cruel, but lately, he's been looking more brighter. It's real bizarre."

Both of the girls jolted up, surprised of what they had heard. It was weird to hear that about Kazuka. He was.. well, Kazuka. He never liked to talk much and was somewhat arrogant. Being "brighter" was something out of Kazuka's understanding. Putting aside the essay, the two girls began to ask questions about his behavior.

"Um, Fujiwara-sensei, what do you mean by "brighter"?" Yui asked, causing Onami to ponder about describing it.

"Well.. let's just say that he wasn't much of a brat than back then." Onami said. "Anyways, here's the address to your source." She gave Yukino a piece of paper, showing an address.

"Who is this source of yours?" Yukino asked.

"I heard that one of Ujimoto's relatives are in town for a bit. I think it seems like a real good one to get something out of Kazuka." Onami explained before walking towards the door. "Well, all you need to do is find a bit about Ujimoto. Both of you barely know anything about him, right? Think of this as getting closer to him."

Accepting the "request", Yui called Hachiman, telling him to come meet them at the indicated address. Hachiman, who was watching anime at that time, didn't want to really do another request since it was already summer, but regardless, he got up and went to go meet the two at the address. When he did get there, he found himself in front of a very nice apartment building. As he stared at the building, he heard Yui call him over and he walked over to them.

As they got inside, the trio looked for the right apartment door, 401. As they got there, Yukino knocked on the door. As the three heard the door's lock click open, they saw a man who looked like he was in his mid 40's. He looked somewhat gray. Yui and Hachiman cringed, unsure if this was the right person. He looked nothing identical to Kazuka. If this man was his father, they both looked extremely different. Kazuka looked decent for someone like him, but this man looked.. grimy.

Yukino however, was apathetic and showed no doubt about the man in front of her.

"Excuse me," She began. "Are you Ujimoto Hideki?"

"..." The man stood silent, before nodding. "Yes, I am, who are you?"

"We are fr- acquaintances of Ujimoto Kazuka." Yukino corrected, nearly saying a word that was taboo to her.

"Hm.." Hideki muttered. "Okay, why are you kids here?"

"We wish to ask you a few questions."

* * *

Hideki politely invited the three into his apartment, seeing that they wanted to know a bit more about Kazuka's past. Hideki wasn't surprised. Kazuka was never the kind of person to openly talk about his "childhood" to others. It was usually one of his memories that he kept to himself, and never told anyone about it. As he offered the three to tea, they all sat around a table.

Hideki didn't know why, but he felt like trying to know these kids more.

He was going to see how they would react to his statements.

"So.. Ujimoto-san.. are you Kazuka's father?" Yui asked.

"Hey, why are you being so sudden?" Hachiman questioned.

"H-Hey! I just wanted to-"

"I am his uncle, if that's what you were asking." Hideki answered. "More importantly, why do you all introduce yourselves?"

"I'm Yuigahama Yui, it's nice to meet you."

"Hikigaya Hachiman."

"My name is Yukinoshita Yukino."

"_Yukinoshita, hm? Could this girl be- no."_

"Well, it's nice to see you all. I'm quite surprised to see that Kazuka has friends."

"It's a bit far to call us his friends. We are just acquaintances." Yukino clarified.

"Somehow, I think you're lying The kids in my school back then said that, and they became my best friends. Quite an old trick, you should use a new one." Hideki called her out without hesitation. Yukino's right eye just barely twitched.

Next moment, she couldn't believe she had done that. What was going on?

"Well, I'm one of Kazukun's friends. I think he's-"

"I hope you don't use that name around him, it angers him when people use honorifics incorrectly. I recommend not using that silly name anymore." Hideki said.

Yui was doing her best to prevent herself from shooting a sharp glare at the person in front her.

"Look we just-"

"Look? I should be saying that, you look quite ill. Your's and Kazuka's faces look almost alike, but at least Kazuka has good eyes." Hideki basically insulted Hachiman. For some reason, Hachiman found himself looking away from him as he gritted his teeth in aggravation.

_"Shit.. I was going to say something big to make myself look significant so that I could get out of here quickly.. this old guy is already irritating the hell out of me! Does Ujimoto's family have a history of pissing people off?" _Hachiman thought.

"Hm, you guys seem alright." Hideki was finished saying things that were actually quite true about the three. "I just said that stuff to see what you guys are."

"Eh?" Hachiman let out, expressing a rather-horrific face.

"Would you stop showing such nasty expressions? Disgusting." Yukino scolded.

"Would you stop bothering me and quit trying to get every satisfaction out of insulting me to the world?" Hachiman responded.

"Well, if you two would like to know about Kazuka, then maybe we should stop saying such pointless things to each other, yes?" Hideki said, causing Hachiman and Yukino to bring their full attention to the adult.

"So, where shall you start?" Yukino asked.

"Hm, that's a good question to ask, Yukino.." Hideki rubbed the back of his head, sighing. "Well, how about we just begin at where Kazuka's life began to really fall apart, does that sound good?"

For the trio, the story wasn't going to sound good at all.

"If I remember correctly.. I think it was about 5 years ago.."


End file.
